


On Seeker Habits

by Tolaya



Series: On Seeker Habits [1]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst/Hurt/Comfort, Gore, Infant Death, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Multi, Seeker Society(Seekers are wild), Sticky Sex, Sweet little seekerling, Violence, dub-con, non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-01
Updated: 2014-01-23
Packaged: 2017-12-07 05:33:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 37
Words: 226,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/744849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tolaya/pseuds/Tolaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seekers are wild brutal beings living in the uninhabited locations of Cybertron. But when a seekerling is born into autobot hands it changes everything. Ratchet and Hound are faced with a great responsibility while learning seeker culture. But seekers need seekers to be a seeker and they cant protect their charge from the war and its kin forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Pre-war Cybertron:

Ratchet had received a mystic communique from Hound. The green tracker had been roaming one of the metal forests in the wild and uninhabited northern part of the planet during one of his orns off duty. The only message coming through had been the nervous and rather panicky plea for Ratchet to meet him out IN the wilderness with no explanation at all to why he needed the medic

The medic had at first decided to decline the request, but something in the voice of the always calm mech had made him agree to meet up.

As he closed the Comm. he shuddered at the thought of the wilderness he was about to travel. Something his altmode would not thank him for. The tracker was designed to travel the unforgiving wilderness, Ratchet wasn’t.

o o o

Hound was relieved when he cycles later saw the white and red of the medic forcing its way through the trees up ahead. He could see the medic sporting dozen of scratches but seemed to have made it into the wilderness without much difficulty. Of course Hound had made the travel a bit easier if the medic had used his traveling route.

Confirming that Ratchet was fine, the tracker returned his focus on the topic of his request. He needed to be alert or the being might attack him – even in its weakened state. After all everyone knew how vicious those beings could be, and no one got close to one without suffering damages.

The only reason that Hound hadn’t been attacked was the fact that the being before him was greatly wounded and almost offline.

o o o

Ratchet cursed as he came free of the trees and entered the little clearing that Hound had found. He didn’t know what the tracker wanted with him, but for all the troubles he hoped that this was as important as he had sensed, or else someone was in for a reformatting.

Transforming and checking that his systems still functioned at their peak he then turned to the tracker expecting an explanation.

But he soon saw why Hound had summoned him.

Because before the tracker lay on the ground a delicate frame.

It looked nothing like the grounders that populated the most of the planet. No this one had a whole different build. One that was rarely seen this close. But something was off.

It lay in a pool of its own energon. And it missed an important part of its being. Ratchet couldn’t stop the shuddering occurring when he recognized what had happened.

The being had been tranquilized and shredded of its precious wings.

Rogue hunters hunted its species like a sport and showed the prized wings as their testimony of surviving the encounter with one of the wild and brutal seekers roaming the skies of Cybertron. It wasn’t illegal, but very ill advised to hunt the seekers. Even if they were wilder than the general population of the planet, they were nothing like the turbo foxes and petro rabbits.

As Ratchet came closer he registered the shivering running through the weak frame of the seeker. It was obviously in great pain; and who wouldn’t be if someone had removed a major part of his armor like the wings had been removed. The medic had already confirmed the ragged parts left of the wings, where they connected to the frame. The source of the major energon loss the seeker had suffered. How was it even alive after all that damage and loss of fluids?

“Ratch. Can you do something for it?” Hound asked. The question shook the medic out of his thoughts and he nodded to the tracker as he came closer to the seeker.

“Yes. But I need to get it back to my medbay. I don’t know if it is safe enough to sedate it. How has it reacted to your presence?” Ratchet was musing if he dared to let it in his altmode unsedated.

“Well, it hasn’t moved since I found it. But I dunno.” The tracker sighed. “I’m not sure it senses anything at all.” He finalized.

As Ratchet came close enough to touch the seeker he heard a faint garbled whimper. And he made his decision; he needed to sedate it, even if it was dangerous to the seekers health. The strain of the panic that he then knew that the seeker would suffer could be just as bad to the strained mechanics as the sedative.

Reaching into his subspace he withdrew a syringe and the sedative. With skilled hands he plunged it into the seekers main energon line and watched as the convulsions slowly subsided and its optics dulled to almost grey.

Breems later they were on the way back to Iacon, the seeker safely tugged inside Ratchet.

o o o

Unfortunately it turned out that the seeker was worse off than the medic first had anticipated and as the medic worked on his third cycle to save the seeker it seemed all futile. Stranger was that the seeker kept onlining even while it should be heavily sedated.

As Ratchet watched the spark rate slow down once more he was beyond furious. How could he not help this being? What was he not seeing?

Then something happened that would forever stay with the medic. The seeker woke one final time. But this time it didn’t struggle, resignation was obvious in its optics as it with a last struggle freed its servos and drew them to its chest plates.

The medic hadn’t been able to bypass the lock mechanism on the sparkchamber, so when the seeker itself initiated the opening Ratchet watched confused. The behavior was strange; no one bared their spark to another who they didn’t trust.

Hound who had stayed at the door came closer when Ratchet stopped working and just stood there and watched. Then a marveled look entered the medics face as the treasure the seeker had protected was bared to him. Beside the slowly fading spark of its carrier a seekerling nested contently. Hounds processor spun at the fact presented to him.

The medic was shaken from his stupor when the spark monitor came alive with alerts. The seekers spark had entered the last phase. And as a last gesture the seeker managed to free the seekerling of its connections to the mature spark. Before the optics dulled completely it placed the little seekerling on its chestplate affectionately protecting the little one with its servos. Then it all stilled, the cooling fans stopping, the air intake releasing its last breath as the fuel pump, no longer energized by the spark stopped and the seeker died.

The medbay was completely silent. Then the sound of the newborn registered in Ratchet. His protocols activating as he gently removed the now greying servos and freed the seekerling.

As the medic touched the little one he sensed something foreign pressing at his mind. Frowning he prodded the feeling and was left astounded. Because when he had nudged the connection he had received a feedback, like someone talking to him in his mind.

/creator?/secure/love/

It was the seekerling!

Greatly mystified he studied the glowing pulp of metal resting contently in his servo while clicking and cooing.

Hound coming to stand beside the medic watched the seekerling fascinated. The little being was translucent, the spark shining through what was to become hardened metal alloys in time. As he reached a digit to touch the metal, one of the little clawed servos reached for it, and he like Ratchet sensed the foreign being that was the seekerling in his mind.

Not understanding, the tracker nudged the connection like the medic had done and was greeted with a satisfied response.

/carrier?/love/affection/

Just as mystified as the medic he turned his attention to Ratchet and somehow understanding occurred when they watched their own confusion in the others optics. They had been adopted.


	2. Chapter 2

The orns following their adoption turned out to be some of a learning curve for the two transformers.

At least Ratchet with his general medical knowledge of transformers was a somewhat reliable source of what to do and not to do around newsparks. But this was a seekerling, and of course there would be differences between what it and the transformers own offspring could endure.

First time everything went awry Hound was at work at the temple of the Prime. He had been assigned to the guards watching over the religious head of their people.

While Hound was gone, Ratchet had the little seekerling with him at work in his medbay.

It had learned easily to stay silent when he placed it above one of the higher cabinets in there.

And only when no other transformer was present it would let out a few thrilling tones until Ratchet came and lifted it down again. At times when a surgery would take cycles the medic had the seekerling placed at the head end of the berth he was working at. When the patient was sedated no one would be the wiser.

This orn Ratchet had a rare break in his work time and had decided to look at some of his own projects currently gathering dust.

Placing the seekerling at a workstation not far away he turned to his workbench and began to tinker.

Soon he had forgotten all about the seekerling who was left to amuse itself.

Ratchet became aware of something warring in his mind half a cycle later when strange sounds drew him from his thoughts. Then a mind searing distress came through the connection he had with the seekerling.

Turning in a flash Ratchet couldn’t believe what he was looking at. The scene could have been almost funny if not for the fear and panic coming from the little one.

There on the workstation the seekerling flailed covered in the saccharine substance of countless energon treats. The sticky substance had clearly not been something that the little being could consume and its system had tried and somewhat succeeded in expelling it from its fuel tank.

The result was that the sticky substance had managed to enter the little air intakes and clogged them. At times blurbs would sound and sticky fluid would slowly drip from the vents.

The scene was so strange to the medic. And combined with the wide opticed face stained with energon tears still falling, his spark just melted.

Ratchet gently picked the little one from the workstation, careful not to hurt it when some of the sticky fluid which had managed to dry and acted like glue, refused to give.

Seekerling safely in hand he went to the sink and gently placed it there before going to one of his cabinets and getting one of the precious bottles of water. Water was rare on Cybertron, but useful in some cases. 

Mostly they used solvents and cleanser to cleanse their armor. But the seekerling was delicate. Its armor was more like hard rubber and he dared not use some of the solvents and cleansers before it had fully hardened.  
Returning to the sink he removed the cap of the bottle and placed it in a heater at the side of the sink.

While he waited for the water to reach the needed temperature to effectively remove the saccharine substance he lifted the seekerling once more. He didn’t care that his own armor became smeared in the sticky fluids; he had a little one to comfort.

Still looking miserable the seekerling clung to his armor seeking comfort as he was giving. During the moment he sensed that the fear and panic had subsided and confusion slowly took their place.

The seekerling sensed when the amusement registered in the medics mind. For a seekerling the colorful crystalline treats he had in case of unruly patients surely must have looked mesmerizing. And of course it could not ignore the urge to investigate when such a treat was placed before it.

Just as the alarm on the heater signaled that the desired temperature had been reached the door to the medbay was slammed open.

When Ratchet turned he was faced with a heavily venting Hound who looked like he had broken all speed limits on the way to the medbay, and had left his post during his shift if the chronometer was anything to go by.

“Hound, what are you doing here?” the medic asked with a frown.

“I… sensed some…thing.” The tracker managed between breaths.

Literally face palming Ratchet groaned. Sure the tracker had sensed the distress too.

“Then why didn’t you Comm. me?” the medic groused. The seekerling still in his servo curiously peaked out from between the digits and somewhat attempted a thrill. Unfortunately it only resulted in even more sticky substance traveling down its lite frame and the disgusting sound of a blurb.

The sound drew Hounds attention and when he saw WHAT was actually sitting there in the medic’s hand he was left without words.

A bit ashamed that he hadn’t been able to keep an optic on the – no their – little one Ratchet turned to the sink to carry on with cleaning the seekerling.

“As you can see we had a little run in with some energon treats.” The medic explained voice even and back turned to the tracker who still hadn’t said or done anything in the last breem.

The sound of the medic pouring the water into the sink seemed to awake the green mech from where he had been in his mind. If Ratchet had kept an optic on the tracker he would have seen the vivid range of emotions coursing through the others face as the facts finally managed to register.

“You. Let. It. Alone. Unsupervised?” the tracker asked, when he found his voice.

Letting out a deep sigh Ratchet turned once again when he had checked that the water indeed was at the desired temperature and had placed the seekerling in the water.

“Yes. I got carried away. It is not often that I get a break in my work. I am sorry I didn’t comm. you when I discovered what had happened. I didn’t think that the creator/creation bond was able to reach that far.” The medic apologized.

“Yeah, well. This is new to the both of us.” Hound consoled seeing the apology in the medic’s optics.

Ratchet turning back to watch the seekerling play and enjoy the water voiced what they both then were thinking:

“And it won’t be the last time something like this happens.”

They had added energon treats to their list of do and don’ts. Fortunately they would learn from their own stupidities and forgetfulness. And every time something bad happened, or they learned something new about the seekerling they would add it to the growing list.  
Unfortunately they would have to await the bad things to avoid them in the future.


	3. Chapter 3

They should not have been so surprised Hound mused when looking back at the night cycle they had just had.

None of them had gotten much recharge, which showed in the grumpy sounds of the medic stomping around in the common room.

First Hound had left to get home to his own apartment further into the city state; his work at the temple of the Prime demanded that he was in reachable distance. So the tracker had bend and found a crude looking apartment in one of the hideous skyscrapers.

He would have preferred a little place of his own in the outskirts of the city, but that had been denied.

He had then cycles later been awoken by his comm. showing a bleary looking Ratchet and a symphony of noise in the background. The medic had tiredly asked him to come back, since the seekerling had not been silent since he left.

And the medic had tried anything!

Now he just please wanted to recharge.

When Hound had arrived the seekerling had blessedly fallen into recharge almost instantly, leaving an outraged expression on the medics face as he watched the little being snuggling contently covered in a thermal blanket.

Shrugging the tracker had found a comfortable couch and placed it in the berth room. Before long he and Ratchet was sound in recharge.

Only to awake a cycle later to high pitched wailing.

Coming out of recharge Hound blinked one, two, three times before his optics adjusted to the sudden awakening.

He could hear Ratchet pronounce a couple of curses before the medic adjusted the light in the room to see what was wrong.

When their optics fell on the source of this crude disruption of their rechargecycle they found the seekerling blinking confused with energon tears pooling beneath its lite frame.

Being the more relaxed of the two adopted creators Hound gathered the little being in his servo before gently lifting it to his chest. 

“Shyyyy. What is the matter little one?” he cooed, trying to calm the distress.

When breems passed and the wailing continued and the attempts to comfort failed miserably Ratchet finally caved in and took the seekerling in his servo.

Running a scan he detected the problem; an empty fuel tank. Hound could almost see Ratchet internally face palming as the medic offered the seekerling an energon line and just like that the room fell silent.

“Hungry. It was hungry.” Hound stuttered. Why didn’t they think about that?

“Yes.” It was clear that the medic was as ashamed as the tracker by overlooking something such obvious and for not anticipating it. What a start on their first orn as creators.

During the rest of the night cycle they fell into a routine.

Every cycle the seekerling would wake them by crying until they learned that its needs occurred at certain intervals. Then one of them would set the chrono to wake him every few cycles to feed the seekerling BEFORE it started to distress.

This ensured that they got a less disturbed night. But as Hound learned by the beginning of the new orn the medic was grouchy when his recharge was disturbed.

Hopefully they would both adjust to their new life.

o o o 

Ratchet was devastated. The whole last orn had taken its toll on the medic.

First he had spent cycles to no avail trying to save the seeker.

Then he became adopted by a seekerling.

Then he had had to stuff the deactivated seeker away for later analysis before his expected patients arrived. All while the seekerling demanded. Yes demanded his attention now and again.

Then he had been left alone with the seekerling after completing his orns schedule of operations and patient visits. A seekerling mind you that would NOT keep quiet.

At moments he had regretted listening to Hound when the tracker first contacted him. He just knew that it was bad. Why had he not listened to his own senses?

When Hound had arrived Ratchet had felt so stupid. The seekerling had glanced at the green mech once before it had curled into a ball and entered recharge.

Was he not good enough? Had a treacherous voice asked in his mind, before he silenced it. After all, what did he care? But. A faint voice reminded him, the feeling he at the moment felt was telling something else.

When he finally had entered recharge it had been to only reawake to the same symphony that he had suffered from a cycle previously. Why? Why? WHY?

He had not managed to the stop the profanities leaving his vocalizer at that moment.

Hound had at least taken the seekerling and tried to calm it, unfortunately without success.

Sighing Ratchet had then taken it and run a scan, just to be sure. And he had felt even more stupid than earlier.

Hungry.

Of course it was hungry.

They had then after a few cycles of wakening to the distressed hungry seekerling managed a schedule that left them somewhat amount of recharge that they would not be completely deprived at the beginning of the new orn.

But it didn’t change that Ratchet felt completely ruined and not at all ready to face the outside world.

Letting out an angry growl he crushed the energon cube he held in his servo. The pink substance splashed to the floor while splinters of the cube lodged themselves in the palm of the sensitive surgical servos.

Cursing Ratchet angrily shook his servo free of the liquid trailing down the digits and studied his damaged circuitry.

It all just fuelled his anger the more and when a servo gently patted him on his shoulder he flinched around yelling.

“WHAT?”

Before him the seekerling and Hound just stood there. The seekerling was resting in the servo that Hound had extracted to let it touch the medic. And therefore the little being had been at the front seat of his outburst.

Slowly energon tears pooled in the wide yellow optics before they burst from the silently crying seekerling and fell like a flood.

Anger evaporating instantly Ratchet flinched back when he met the optics of the tracker.

“It felt that it had distressed you Ratch.” Hound explained. Voice hard.

“It just wanted to apologize.”

When the medic attempted to lift the seekerling from the trackers servo it visibly flinched away, fear latched optics meeting Ratchets.

Cursing the medic soon found himself trying to reassure the seekerling cooing like a lunatic.

He did feel sorry for his outburst.

And he genuinely cared for the little being.

But cooing to ensure someone else’s wellbeing was a first.

Oh yes. The last orn had sure been eventful. And even if he felt the strain of not sleeping he had to admit that he might end up loving the seekerling like if it was his own.


	4. Chapter 4

Since the Energon-treat-incident that he and Hound called the first accident involving the seekerling Ratchet felt lucky that at least the little one was able to take in and consume the energon provided for it through the feeding lines that he had activated during the first orn, when they realized that they were stuck with it.

How well it sustained the seekerling was yet to be seen, but so far its health seemed just like when it first had emerged from the sparkchamber of its biological carrier. 

Ratchet reminded himself of the last again and again. It would not do to attach himself to the seekerling more than he already was with the bond.

The little one was still in risk of dying.

It was out of its element with providers that knew barely anything about its specie. If he was lucky it might survive until it would be able to be released back into the wilderness.

He didn’t know how the seeker kind of bonds worked, but at some point the transformers own creator/creation bonds faded and left space to form closer bonds with others, he just hoped the same occurred to the seekers.

At the moment, Ratchet was alone in the medbay, preparing for a major surgery within a cycle. Down the hall in the common room Hound had the seekerling playing and just socializing. For once Ratchet was alone completely, with no responsibility.

Hound had moved in when they realized that the seekerling would not let any of them out of sight for long. The first orn when Hound had left the little one in Ratchets care and went home to his own apartment Ratchet had had no rest. It had stayed awake all night cycle wailing and only when Hound on the medics request arrived did it finally silence and fall into recharge. They had just resigned and before long gone into recharge themselves then and there.

Yes their little one knew how to rock them its way. That was sure.

o o o

Hound was thrilled. He was marveled and astounded still by the connection that had formed just a few orns before.

Even if he didn’t understand what the seekerling said with its wide-ranging and exotic sounds he sensed it in his spark. Ratchet had called the sounds Seeker-cant.

He felt the joy overshadowing any other feeling at the moment. It was so pure a feeling that he himself couldn’t stop feeling joyful himself.

At the moment the seekerling studied cubes of different size, shape and coloration. On the floor beside Hound lay a huge ark showing some pictures of figures resembling some of the cubes placed before the seekerling.

It would then point and when Hound held the chosen cube he would show it to the little being. Then the seekerling would study it and when Hound sensed that it was ready he would point at each of the pictures until he got a positive response through the bond.

So far the seekerling had not missed once.

How strange it was to watch a being that everyone in their own society thought of being lesser sentient, manage at task like the one currently done.

The thoughts woke memories of the dying carrying seeker that he had found. Beyond their frame type and cultural differences were they then so different?

Hound returned his attention to the seekerling when a suffering sound was voiced from the little being. The seekerling had fanned its wings forth and was scratching the surface with its little claws, something obviously irritating the little one.

Frowning Hound lifted the seekerling to see if he could find what had disturbed it so much, that it resolved to scratch as deep as it had, drawing energon to the surface. But as his optics roam the lite wings he can see nothing else than the deep scratches littering the previously smooth surface.

“What is the matter?” he asks the seekerling, feeling through the bond the irritation grow in the little being.

A weak chipping devoid of the usual happiness is the only response, while the yellow optics sends what he already has deduced as a wordless plea. Unfortunately it was a plea for something that he didn’t understand.

/hurt/pain/itch/ the seekerling communicates through the bond.

Hound meets the pleading optics when he gets the response, with an empathic look in his optics.

Gently he strokes the suffering wings, trying the remove the clear tension that he senses in them, but it only results in the seekerling trying to shy away from the touch. Confused he tries to comfort the seekerling again by stroking and it just keeps shying away from the touch.

Not sure what else to do he contacts Ratchet.

“Ratch. Got a klik?” he asks through the comm. when the medic responds.

“Well beside the complicated processor surgery that I am to being on in less than five breems, sure.” The medic snarks.

“Our little one seems to have an issue with its wings. Tried stroking, not working. Got any ideas?” Hound explains.

Turning serious Ratchet is silent for some time.

“I might have some salve you can try apply. But I have no idea what could be the problem. Tried taking it outside?” the medic suggests and explain. After all seekers live their lives outside, not cramped in buildings.

“I’ll try that. A little air should not hurt after all.” There is a smile clearly in the trackers voice at that, and he closes the comm. deciding to take the seekerling outside immediately.

Outside wasn’t like outside would be if the seekerling had lived where it belonged – in the forest. No outside in Iacon meant the countless roads upon roads intertwining each other. Even the air was occupied by the massive skyscrapers build to house the growing population of transformers seeking to live in the city state.

That meant that Hound actually had to travel some distance before they could get a look at the sky. But when the skyscrapers cleared and more and more of the sky came into view he sensed calm settling in the seekerling. When the wind began to blow across his frame he reveled in the sensation. This was why he on his orns off traveled the uninhabited areas. The city was simply too cramped to his spark.

Unfortunately he had been closed off from that since the seekerling came into his life. He could not burden Ratchet too much by being selfish.

It seemed that the seekerling shared his need for the freedom of the forests. But of course it would. Hound laughed; it was almost a part of the forest itself, some of the wild life living there. He tended to forget where the seekerling actually came from.

Smiling he raised his servo holding the seekerling and let the wind caress its delicate frame. The sensation produced a satisfied purr from the seekerling and it flared its wings proudly, completely at home in the feeling of the wind blowing across its wings.

Yes. The seekerling was sure a wonder from the wilderness.

Cycles later just as the seekerling had entered recharge peacefully for once, his comm. went off.

“Did it work?” the tired voice of Ratchet sounded.

“Yes. I am on my way back now.” The tracker replied. The time had flown while he had enjoyed the intriguing antics the little one had showed off. And he himself had not registered the cycles passing while being outside. Only the slow darkening of the sky told him finally that it was time for him to head back.

Laughing he added one last comment to the medic before closing the comm.

“We are finally getting a decent amount of recharge tonight.”

If only for that he would gladly take the seekerling with him more often in the future.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been ten orns since they became adopted by the seekerling and they had entered a routine that seemed to work for both the seekerling and the two autobots.

Currently they were all in recharge, but that would not stay like that this night cycle.

After four cycles of recharge and two feedings of the seekerling Hounds comm. went off and the face of the stoic head of the guard – Prowl – emerged. The tracker left the berth room to not disturb the seekerlings recharge.

Ratchet only faintly heard Hounds replies.

“…oh I see.”

“What?!”

“Yes yes I will be there shortly.”

Groaning Ratchet prepared for a night where he would not get much recharge. That was, until his own comm. went off.

Answering the pinging he was greeted by the Primes secretary who seemed quite out of it.

“Yes?” he asked when the mech hadn’t said anything for several kliks.

“Ratchet, yes?” the fidgeting mech asked. When the medic nodded he was briefed that he would be receiving an emergency patient within a few breems.

During the conversation Hound had entered the berth room and silently said that he was leaving, and the medic spared him a nod.

When the medic closed the comm. he groaned once more before he stood and glanced at the seekerling who still recharged contently on the berth. He just hoped that it would be done fast so that the little one wouldn’t notice he was gone.

Leaving he closed the door as silently as possible, before he with rapid footsteps went to his medbay to prepare for whatever patient he was getting.

It was rare that he had patients during the night cycle. Most went to the larger medical facilities that were open all orn, prepared to take care of what injuries occurring.

Either it was a special case or one of his personal patients that had been injured.

o o o

Hound arrived at the temple of the Prime breems later. When he arrived at the entrance to the compound surrounding the temple he was greeted by heavily armed guards patrolling the area.

After checking his spark signature, the guards let him enter the area when Prowl on a comm. confirmed that yes Hound was to enter.

Bemused by the strict security suddenly there Hound went to the officers’ quarters to be further briefed by Prowl. The only information he had received before he left Ratchet had been that an incident had occurred that needed his presence.

Knocking on the door he was let in a klik later.

As he entered he saw Prowl sitting behind his desk occupied in a livid discussion with someone through a video screen.

The praxian only spared the tracker a glance before he returned to the mech on the video screen, continuing the discussion.

Patient as ever Hound sat down in the chair before the desk, awaiting when Prowl was ready to address him on the matter.

What little Hound at the moment knew made little sense compared to the heavy security suddenly showed. 

Unless.

No that was not possible he decided before the thought was thought to end.

But he kept wondering.

Finally closing the conversation Prowl turned to Hound sitting before him.

Prowl was not the type to withhold information and deliver it gently, which was why he in a harsh tone informed the tracker:

“There has been an assassination attempt on the Prime. Several guards has been injured enough that they need medical attention. That is why I have called you and others to relieve the injured so that they may be tended to.”

After some stunned silence Hound found his vocalizer.

“Is he… Is the Prime okay?” he asked, dreading the answer.

“No, he is not okay. He is currently in surgery. My calculation with what the medic has given me of data is the chance for the Prime to survive is 35.7%.” Prowl replied, his voice severe.

Paling visibly Hounds processor spun. The Prime might die. The Prime couldn’t die; he was their guide, their way to their god, apprentice of Primus himself. It could not be.

Activating a hologram of the temple grounds Prowl pointed.

“I want you to patrol the area here with one of the others.”

There had been several assassins. But the worst was the fact that it all had been possible because one of the guards had made it possible for the intruders to enter without notice. Alas they had had a traitor in their midst.

Currently they had four deactivated intruders but no one knew the actual amount participating in the attack.

The traitorous guard was still alive but injured and was on escort to get repairs before any interrogation would occur. Prowl hoped that the repairs and medical check would shed some light on what the frag had happened.

o o o

Ratchet was greeted breems later by the sound of several pedes walking to the door of his medbay. As the doors opened to allow entrance he was stunned by the sight that greeted him.

Before him were six heavily armed guards, and between them was a gurney with a visibly injured mech strapped down. The injuries ranged from dented helm to a severe laser blast in the abdomen.

As the leader of the group walked to stand before the medic Ratchet snapped out of his stupor as he was handed an official looking datapad.

Scrolling through the text written he could not believe what he was reading.

The injured was to be repaired, and Ratchet was then to scan, search and investigate anything unusual occurring during his exam of the mech.

That would under normal circumstances require the mechs consent, but the glyph signed at the bottom of the document cancelled that out. 

Something bad must have happened to acquire the use of the Lord High Protectors glyph.

Signing the pad he handed it back to the officer before he gestured for the others to put the injured mech on one of his medical berths.

As he asked them to go and wait outside the medbay, the officer declined.

“We are to have our optics on him at all time.” He said to explain.

Growling Ratchet just nodded before beginning the work of repairing injured mech.

o o o

As Ratchet began the tedious work of repairing the mech and Hound carried out his duty together with Mirage; another one of the guards called due to the recently happenings, the seekerling stirred in its recharge.

The time for its next feeding occurred before Ratchet was able to return to the berth room.

o o o

The repairs had been easily remedied. What held the medic occupied was the guards watching him skeptically and keeping disrupting his work with questions during the repairs.

Before he was allowed to continue to the throughout exam of the mech, the officer had even had the audacity to ask of him to explain what he was about to do.

It all had caused the ordeal to take just as much time as the repairs themselves. Instead of spending two cycles away from the seekerling Ratchet found himself watching the chronometer as it told him that almost four cycles had passed.  
He had not sensed anything from the seekerling during his work and hoped that it just had recharged through it all.

When he finally reached the last part of his exam, the processor and inner workings of the helm, he came across something highly suspicious.

A nano circuitry had been added to the central CPU.

He didn’t know what purpose it had or why anyone would place such obvious evidence, and just noted the finding for the report that he would need to form.

Carefully removing the little piece of hardware he finished the exam and stored the removed hardware in a sterile box.

His job done he escorted the guards and the now repaired mech out of the building. As he watched them leave he hurried back inside and went straight for the berth room, silently praying to Primus.

Unfortunately Primus had not heard him.

As the medic opened the door he almost stumbled when one of his pedes caught something as he walked into the room.

Looking down he saw that the thing was the thermal blanket that the seekerling recharged in.

Cursing he adjusted the light to see what had happened while he had been occupied.

He almost regretted it when he did.

The berth room was a mess.

Lamps lay crushed on the floor, the datapads from the nightstand together with the nightstand itself littered the floor.

How the little being had been able to even lift it Ratchet had no clue about, but the seekerling was the only culprit possible.

Speaking of the culprit.

Where was the little thing?

The room was silent like a tomb. Not a chirr or chip sounded in the decent sized room.

It upset the medic to a degree that he soon found himself crawling to look under the furniture, calling to the seekerling.

Breems passed but nothing happened.

Fear beginning to crawl into his spark Ratchet began to turn the furniture around feverishly looking and hoping that he had missed it the first time.

Only when the room looked more ruined than when he arrived he stopped. Fear turning to panic he was about to leave the berth room to see if it had managed to escape him when he entered.

But when he was halfway out of the room a faint whimper registered in the medic’s audios.

Optics roaming the room once more he soon saw the little movements.

The seekerling was clinging to the lamp hanging from the ceiling.

Not knowing, and not caring how it had ended up there he carefully took the little being into his servos.

It was clear to the medic that the seekerling was scared. The being shook with tremors and curled into a ball in his servo.

Having no clue to go by, Ratchet just sat at the berth and calmly tried to ease the seekerling to uncurl.

o o o

A cycle later when Hound had been relieved from his duty and returned back to the medic’s home, the tracker found Ratchet in a rather compromised position.

Music was filling the air with calming tones while the medic stood in the middle of the common room and danced.

The medic was swaying from side to side holding the seekerling close to his chest.

They had learned before the recharge that night cycle that music was something that the seekerling found enjoyable.

Hound was to the more upbeat, noise as Ratchet called it, while the medic himself was fond of the instrumental classical genres.

Hound at the moment could indeed see what the medic found appealing in the calm music as he watched the closed optics of the seekerling and the satisfied purr now and then leaving the little being.

Doing a wide swing Ratchet caught the sight of the tracker out of the corner of his optics and turned to face him.

Hound was tired.

He was also deeply troubled.

Because just as he was allowed to return home he got the news:

The Prime was dead.

But at the moment he just enjoyed seeing the medic and seekerling so content together that he did not want to ruin the medic’s mood by telling the bad news.

o o o

Unknown location in Iacon:

“The mission was a success.” A rough pleased voice told his master.  
“He is dead then?” a hoarse voice asked.

“Yes.” The first replied.

“Good.” The second responded.  
\------------------------


	6. Chapter 6

Prewar Cybertron:  
The Lord High Protector looked out of the window from his office in one of the highest towers in the City State of Iacon. Just to the right he could see the upper parts of the temple of the Prime.

Outward he would look like a mech deeply troubled, and why should he not be so? His partner in power had been brutally assassinated. But it was all a façade.

Megatron had never liked the now former Prime. No. The Prime had been too stubborn and too easily swayed when they had dealt with the Senate.

The Lord High Protector had now and again found himself on the losing side when it came to discuss the important parts regarding the common transformer; autobot and decepticon alike.

While the majority of the transformers were of decepticon heritage, only few managed to hold any power in the senate, and it had been thousands of vorns since they last had had a senator of decepticon origin. 

Thus the Lord High Protector being the only of decepticon heritage, a title he only held due to the old traditions, he fought a losing battle every time he had been before the Senate together with the Prime.

No he did not and would never miss the former Prime.

The Lord High Protector himself had originated from poor decepticons trying to just survive the harsh environment the energon mines were. None of his creators was alive this day, and every day more and more transformers, primarily decepticons would deactivate in the unforgiving mines.

Megatron had risen from his poor heritage to become first a gladiator, the only other option he had had at the time to the mines.

As time went and he began to make himself a name in the bloodied arenas around Cybertron the support to his being and even his ideology steadily rose, until he one day had been elected Lord High Protector, when the former had died.

Silently he wondered if he should give the new Prime a chance before he set things in motion.

Megatron had been shocked when he was informed by the Primes own medic that the Prime had not carried the Matrix within him, and seemed to never have. Later he had found the sacred relic locked away in a safe in the Primes private quarters.

If the Prime had not carried the relic, then every decision and suggestion had not been favoring the good of the people, and he was unsure what would come when the new Prime entered the scene of the obscure politic that the Senate legislated.

The Lord High Protector rarely found himself this unsure.

He had always proclaimed his ideals loudly before the Senate, and taken the defeats with needed acceptance, even if he strongly disagreed. Sometimes it was just impossible to get anything through.

The first and only time he had sensed a shed on hope for the transformers living in the bottom of the supposed golden society had been when a young politician had entered the Senate, and had begun asking questions.

The white and red mech had been a well of insight, eager and a bit naïve at first. Megatron had found his suggestions seconded by the young mech now and again.

But as time went the light that the Lord High Protector had seen in the young politician slowly dulled.  
There were only so many defeats you could take before it got to you. And Megatron and the politician were only two out of many to have a say.

One meeting Megatron found that the young politician had been swapped with another new face. He had never seen the white and red mech ever since.

Sighing Megatron turned around when he heard the doors open.

His optics found the bulky shape of his most trusted subordinate and close friend walk swiftly to stand before the impressive desk in the middle of the room.

“Ah, Soundwave.” He greeted, eager to hear what the other had to report.

“Prowl: eliminated most of the intruders guilty of the deactivation of the Prime. Guard: taken into custody. Datapad: delivered to leader of escort.” The dark blue mech droned.

“Good. I guess you did your research, does he remember anything?” the Lord High Protector asked cryptically.

“Guard: No memory of operation. Secret: safe.” was the reply.

“So it seems our plans are working out.” Megatron said pleased.

The test of the little device he had ordered a decepticon scientist to invent did indeed work. The Prime being killed had actually only been a hope and not the actual test. No Megatron needed to know if the little chip that he had received after almost a vorn did work.

The device was a subtle mind controller able to program the object it had been placed in to do certain things; like letting a hostile group of mech inside a highly protected area.

Why he needed the device in the first place?

If he was to make his intentions clear to every transformer on Cybertron it seemed the only way to do so was to force them to see the wrongs. To do so he needed an army. Not the army he currently controlled due to his title, but an army loyal to him, and the decepticons.

That army he had found several vorns ago. He had at the time just not known what he was looking at. No he had just been fascinated.

o o o

The Lord High Protector had come across the seekers during one of their gatherings. He had been out in the wilderness to plot secretly with leaders of decepticon controlled cities from around the planet.

At the time he did not know what he was looking at, and when he later arrived back in Iacon, what little information he was able to dig up regarding seekers told him that he had been lucky to even survive the sight.

Not one to back down Megatron had engaged Soundwave in tracking the brutal beings, and when the communications specialist had informed him one orn that movements indicated a new gathering, he had taken to the wilderness to watch the wild animal like transformers.

What he had learned during his spying told him a lot about how wrong the common opinion on the flight capable beings were. He clearly sensed an ingrained society among the seekers, especially surrounding a certain seeker.

A black and yellow seeker now and again stood out of the regular seeker.

He was much larger than the others, even higher than the Lord High Protector himself, who among the transformers was one of the largest in existence. And when disputes occurred it was clearly that just the mere presence of the seeker diffused the arguments. At least that was what Megatron guessed that they were, since he wasn’t able to understand anything they said.

Continuity began, and every stellar cycle he would seek out the new place that the seekers had decided to gather at. He would watch them interact, and count their numbers.

Every time he came across the seekers, the population had grown with a few hundred. Something that he marveled in, since creation among the transformers was a slow and tedious nightmare in bureaucracy before they were granted access to Vector Sigma.

Then one stellar cycle as he was on the way to the new location of the gathering he saw something strange in the air as he came near to the location.

A blur of black and blue was swirling around each other at a speed almost impossible. Just as he watched the mass intertwined and fell towards the ground while wild screeching sounded all around.

Greatly bemused he slowly advanced on the location, before he saw the mass divide into two now clear forms. It was two seekers.

As he came closer he recognized the black and yellow seeker, but was not able to place the colors of the other with any seeker he remembered.

Just then an enormous boom sounded and as he watched the black and yellow seeker rapidly descend uncontrollable to the ground he felt the damages in his audio receptors.

Following the descending seeker the blue one glided elegantly down with it, and soon the crash was felt as the black seeker impacted with the ground.

Hiding at a distance he came closer to see what was going to happen. Aware that with his audio receptors disabled he would not be able to sense any dangers coming upon him.

As he scanned the surroundings a blue wing came into his sight, and he then recognized the mangled parts less than 200 feet before him as the black seeker.

Just as Megatron thought the fight done and over the parts moved, all while the blue seeker circled the downed one.

Like shaking a helm ache off the black seeker managed to lift itself from the ground and actually look just as dangerous as every previously time he had watched it. Only it was clear that it would not get airborne anytime soon with the damages to its wings.

Growling a warning the black seeker tore into the blue one and a vicious fight began.

That was when Megatron realized what he was looking at, and no longer just saw seekers, but resources.

The Lord High Protector had been impressed with the strength the seekers carried.

Every time he thought the fight to be over the black seeker retaliated, showing strength, cunning and stamina he hadn’t thought the specie managed. But before him the evidence was clear, the seekers were more than just brutal bestial beings, they would be skilled warriors if one found a way to control them.

Finally the blue seeker had managed a killing blow to the heavily wounded black seeker, and the fight slowed down. The blue seeker having heavy damages itself began circling the crouching black seeker and now and then swiped at the damaged armor with its deadly claws.

Then something changed between the two seekers.

The black seeker let out a lyrical sound from its damaged vocalizer and the blue seeker stopped in its further damaging actions and crouched down beside the black.

Confused Megatron watched the blue seeker caress the damaged black wings of the other, causing whimpers to escape the black seeker. Then their optics met and the black seeker began to glow.

Realizing that the glow was the light of the black seekers spark, bared to the outside world, Megatron reveled in the faintly yellow hue it covered the area in.

Then with a swift move from the blue seeker, the spark was no more.

As the mangled parts of the black seeker began to fade into grey a tiny orb of light withdrew from the deactivated corpse and fused with the blue seeker, visibly shaking the seeker and causing it to stagger on its thrusters.

Then as it regained its steadiness once more it lifted the grey husk of its opponent and took off, leaving the area.

When the seeker had left Megatron found he was in a strange mood. What he had seen, felt like something that would shape the future. Not knowing what role he, himself would play in that future he left the area. The forest made him feel unwelcome, and he decided to return home to Iacon, instead of venture to the location of the gathering. Somehow he had seen enough.

That experience had happened a vorn ago, and he had at his return briefed Soundwave in his findings. Together they had thought the thing through, and Soundwave had suggested a scientist of decepticon origin, that might be of help to them.

And now a vorn later holding the solution to control the seekers, the Lord High Protector could finally get his army.

o o o

Unnamed forest in the Northern Hemisphere:

Thundercracker sliced through the air on his way to his decided location of the new gathering occurring within the next few lunar cycles.

He was greatly pleased.

The blue Winglord had fought many times for his right to court his intended and now he had been granted the allowance from the clan that the lovely seeker belonged to.

Seekers were complicated if you were to understand their society.

The hierarchy resolved around the Winglord and clans.

The Winglord was the supreme leader, having every seeker following his whims if ordered. But when it came to finding your trinemates the clans had their share of power; which was why Thundercracker had had to show his worthiness to the clan leader of his intended trinemate.

More to complicate it all their society build on dominant and submissive seekers. Either you were the one or the other.

But sometimes it occurred that a seeker would show some of both; those didn’t survive long.

Dominant seekers were the larger and stronger among the seekers, occasionally fighting among each other to improve their place in the hierarchy. 

Submissive seekers favored agility and speed the most, which was why they stayed out of the fight the dominants played. You could only avoid the larger seekers for so long, at some point your stamina would dwindle and you would be deactivated.

Submissive seekers also had an important place in the society, being the only ones able to carry. Dominant seekers had only spikes and no valve. And a trine would normally consist of one dominant and two submissive seekers. But occurring more often than not three submissive seekers would join.

That had given the Winglord a new purpose. Submissive seekers needed special coding to create healthy seekerlings; coding that the dominant seekers carried in their transfluid.

With no dominant in more and more of the trines forming, the seekerlings would be malfunctioning or even deactivate at birth.

That had caused the gatherings happening every stellar cycle to be even more important. The Winglord would spread his own coding to the trines not having a dominant and strengthen their race at the same time.

The Winglord being what he was was the strongest among their specie in skill, cunning, strength and agility.

Every new Winglord had to be stronger, faster, smarter and better than the old one, since the only way for a new seeker to become Winglord was to kill the old. That was what Thundercracker had done a vorn before to the older Starstriker.

Thundercracker was rather young for a Winglord, with the age of only 3000 vorns. Seekers matured slowly. Evolution would have that a seeker first became mature and fertile at the age of 2000 vorns. And whether it was to avoid overpopulation of seekers since a seeker was able to carry every few stellar cycles no one knew. Nature had its own ways.

Before becoming Winglord the blue seeker had sensed the attraction to the intended seeker, knowing instinctively that the black and purple seeker was to become his trinemate.

Unfortunately the clan leader had disapproved.

Why?

Because the black and purple seeker was a “nothing”.

The term had been put on the seekers showing both dominant and submissive coding.

But Thundercracker had not given up, and kept favoring the black and purple seeker.

The black and purple seeker was actually a rare occurring. He had matured and survived among the seekers to reach an age of 2436 vorns. When after all most of his blend did not even survive into maturity.

The fact that the intended trinemate was a “nothing” did also complicate the actual courting. What with the coding messed like it was in the black and purple seeker, Thundercracker had to NOT show all his dominant being. Or he might end up killing the seeker. The very reason he had been denied by the clan leader at first.

Seekers cared greatly about their creations and protected them valiantly, even to the death. And the Winglord was protective of every seeker living under his rule. He carried a part of every sparked seeker’s essence in his own spark.

This was given to the new Winglord if and when a challenge to the older Winglord had been won. The old Winglord would then bare its spark to the challenger when the challenger was found worthy, and tradition had that the Winglord to be had to do the final kill firsthand for the essence to carry into the new Winglord.

With the essence fused with the spark, the Winglord would instinctively know every location of his people. He would also know when a seeker deactivated, in which case the spark fragment would dissolve from his spark. Being Winglord carried that heavy burden together with the benefits.

Thundercracker deeply longed for the gathering to come. He had longed for his trinemates for so long. Every seeker strived for the two other sparks destined to fuse with its own. Everything they did, they did in the trine; mating, hunting, flying, raising their creations. Simply everything they did they did for and in the trine.

If a seeker found a sparkmate residing outside the trine, the two trines; in case the other seeker was in one, would fuse. Still they would do their basic every orn stuff in their respective trine, but in case of dangers the two trines would viciously protect each other.

Landing at the location of the next gathering, Thundercracker flickered his wings. The gesture would look innocent to any outsiders, but the movements served a certain purpose. The delicate sensors in the wings were made to register the faintest changes in the air.

On the ground the sensors would be able to sense any movements in a distance of several kliks of flight, causing the range of detection to the seeker to become mere miles around the area.

Not detecting anything Thundercracker surveyed the location, satisfied with his choice. Seekers didn’t care much about where they lived. The forest was their home, but they favored more open spaces when together.

After a few breems the blue seeker transformed into its tetrajet form and shot to the air once again, headed for the location his clan at the moment held.

Even being the Winglord, he didn’t have his own colony. He could at any point be challenged and deactivated and it would serve no purpose to wreak havoc in the countless clans existing if a shift in command should occur.

The traditions had always been that the clan the current Winglord belonged to would be the one in power. Not that that power actually meant much, after all the Winglord ordered and they all followed and no one ordered the Winglord.

But in case of the Winglord to be injured beyond able to rule, the clan leader of the Winglord would then be the one in power. That was the only purpose the tradition held. An important one, but one not often used, since the Winglord being that more powerful than the average seeker was hard to take out of commission.

Landing at the clan’s location Thundercracker was greeted by several seekers.

/Welcome back ‘Loud In The Air’/ he were greeted with a melodious trill.

The seeker that had spoken came closer and gently caressed the blue seekers wingtips.

/Carrier/ The Winglord fondly trilled back, as the blue and yellow seeker before him nuzzled his wings.

Behind his carrier he saw his creator together with the trines third member.

Gently moving his carrier to the side, without tumbling the smaller seeker he made his way to the rest of his creation trine.

Wings held low, his creator stiffly acknowledged the young Winglord. The stern black and grey seeker disapproved just as much as the black and purple seekers clan leader did in the Winglords choice of trinemate.

/Creator./ the Winglord began wings held high and proud.

/You know how I feel about your pursuit of ‘Disappear In The Air’./ the black and grey seeker almost growled.

Sniffing Thundercracker regarded the older seeker and allowed the anger to dissipate before he continued. It was not often that his creator was this aggressive.

/You cannot deter me. ‘Disappear In The Air’ will be my trinemate if he allow. ‘Swift flight’ has finally relented./ The blue seeker told in pleased tones.

Turning around the clan leader of the ‘Swiftstrike’ clan huffed before he walked away from his creation.

Wings slightly drooping Thundercracker watched the only dominant he could not get himself to trash walk away. It was only because the seeker was the Winglords creator that it hadn’t come to a fight.

Thundercracker felt gentle claws carefully stroking his wings and turned to face his carrier once more.  
/Let me get that tension out of your wings my little ‘Loud In The Air’, then you can tell me everything./ the blue and yellow seeker cooed while dragging the blue seeker with it.

Not able to deter his carrier, just as his creator was not able to deter the blue seeker from his goal, Thundercracker followed the other into the middle of the clan area. Relenting in the claws of his carrier he told everything he had been through in the ‘Quick flight’ clan.

Soon the blue seeker was in recharge, gently nursed there by the calm strokes to his wings.

o o o

Iacon Ratchet’s medbay:

Ratchet had been just as shocked as Hound initially had been when he had learned the fate of their Prime.

Even if the medic didn’t particularly like the deceased Prime he cared of every cybertronian life.

In his younger age he had become a politician to better the life of the common transformer. The experience he had gotten when he first entered the Senate had been marvelous.

He got the opportunity to sit there together with the famous senators and watch the Prime and the Lord High Protector present issues.

But the glow had slowly faded from the scene.

Ratchet had during the vorn he had held his seat in the Senate learned of the corruption ruling their society.

The young politician had found himself again and again being the only one to support the Lord High Protector on the issues that really would matter to the common transformer. Even the Prime seemed distant.

Disillusioned Ratchet had left politic when his seat had been up for a new election. The young mech had then, supported by the rather big amount of credits earned by his seat in the Senate financed his true dream.

He had become a skilled medic educated from the Science Academy and had then especially studied to become a specialist in processor and CPU surgery. The credits even managed to provide him with his very own medical bay. All that for only a vorns of service as a senator, all while the common transformer had to work themselves to deactivation for the ornly ration of energon.

Returning to the report he was working on, Ratchet once more studied the results he had gained from testing and experimenting with the little hardware he had taken from the guard’s processor the orn before.

The delicate worked device was crafted skillfully. He had already made access to the hard drive when he realized that some of it was a storage unit. The hard part was to decrypt the content.

It was obviously some sort of program, but the purpose eluded him.

Then he had had a break through when he managed to break a tiny but hardwired firewall that he had not realized where there to begin with.

After that the device had spilled all its little secrets.

The knowledge he then had learned had frozen the energon in his lines.

The guard had been mind controlled.

The next question was then, by whom?

Unfortunately Ratchet had learnt that it had not been by the usual way that required the controller to be nearby, which the device in itself was a testimony to, no it had been preprogrammed into the device, leaving nothing but the device itself as a clue.

Deciding how to address the issues with the findings and how to locate the culprit behind the plot he began the tedious work of forming the report, which would go to the head of the guards and to the Lord High Protector.

Not leaving any possibilities out he told about every finding and his own deduced theories.

As he finished the last keystroke to the report, the door to the medbay opened and Hound with the seekerling entered.

“Are you still working on that?” Hound asked, sounding a bit tired.

Hound had taken the seekerling for a tour outside while Ratchet had busied himself with the report, and the medic had relished in the quiet around him.

“Yes. This is a serious matter. I want the bastard caught.” Ratchet growled.

“And he will be Ratch. With the Lord High Protector looking into it the guilty will be caught. You know how efficient the mech is.” Hound reassured.

Looking between the two transformers, the seekerling studied their expressions. The serious grave one that its carrier showed and the consoling that creator vibrated with.

Chirring it decided to participate in the discussion.

That caused smiles to form on both its creators faces as they fondly looked to the little being.

Changing topic Ratchet asked.

“Had a nice trip?”

“Sure has. By the way, I noticed something new about our little one.” The trackers optics shone.

Frowning, the medic awaited what Hound had to share.

Pointing one of his digits at the seekerling, Ratchet didn’t see it at first.

Then when Hound eased the delicate wing of the seekerling out wide the medic saw what the tracker meant.  
The wing edges had taken on a new color.

Instead of being just translucent, some of the metal had actually begun to harden and had turned white.

Fascinated Ratchet let his own digit caress the changing metal, his lips forming an unconscious “O” as he did so.

It seemed that at least they had done something right then, the medic mused, before he gently shushed the tracker and the seekerling out of his medbay, he still had work to do.

o o o

Prowl was pleased when he a few orns after the assassination of the Prime had some actual clues to go by. So far every lead they had had, had turned out to be dead ends, and it pained the perfectionistic mech that the guilty behind the plot had gone free so long.

Now they had managed to dig up the name of the scientist that had manufactured the little hardware that the medic had found, and he had just deployed his mechs.

Awaiting information from the mechs on the location of the scientist home he patiently paced his office.

Then his comm. went off.

“Yes?” Prowl replied, voice calm

“Sir, we are at the home. You are not going to like this.” A yellow and orange mech told.

“What have you found?” Prowl asked.

“We are too late. The scientist is dead.” Was the grave reply.

Sighing Prowl just closed the comm. as he collapsed in the chair at his desk, defeated.


	7. Chapter 7

Soundwave watched as the group of mechs entered the home of the scientist that he had suggested the Lord High Protector to use. The mech had been assigned to one of Shockwaves divisions at the Science Academy and was skilled in his field of science.

Unfortunately the undercover operations that the Lord High Protector and Soundwave practiced could not afford any lose ends to tell on them, which was why he had preempting this move from Prowl and had killed the Scientist before he could reveal anything. Of course he had gotten Shockwaves agreement before he had deactivated the mech, an agreement that had been there unvoiced when he first briefed the head scientist why he needed the aide of one of his scientists in the first place.

Watching the group leave with the deactivated corpse his reason for being there was finished.

“Return Laserbeak.” He droned to the casseticon.

Diving from the perch atop the building across the street the winged symbiote did as commanded and transformed into her tape form before entering the telepaths chest compartment.

Leaving the dark ally in which he had observed from, he mingled with the common transformers walking the street and soon blended in, disappearing in the crowd.

o o o

Later that orn Soundwave got a hail from the Lord High Protector.

Just finished debriefing Shockwave that his scientist would not be attending his work, he accepted the comm.

“I need your assistance Soundwave; it seems that the Senate has decided to honor the Prime before the funeral.” The Lord High Protector sneered, his disdain for the senators all too clearly.

“As you command.” Droned the communications specialist before Megatron swiftly closed the comm.

At the moment Soundwave had retreated to his private quarters that resided within the tower, only a few levels below the Lord High Protectors Office and private quarters.

Megatron liked to keep his most trusted close by, and Soundwave was grateful that the Lord High Protector found him this worthy and useful.

Soundwaves own life had not been an easy one. No. his fate looked a lot like the one Megatron had been born into. And the fact that the first time they saw each other was in the arena strengthened the friendship that had grown out of their shared experiences.

Both originating from the worst living circumstances possible in the society, every mech starving, people deactivating on the street and others scavenging the dead for any resources that would give them just a little bit longer to function.

That reality was so contradicting to the one he lived in now, with as much fuel as he liked, access to whatever conformity he wanted and a decent place to live. His quarters at the moment probably cost more than the mechs lowest in the society could not even afford to pay if they stacked their earned credits from a lifetime together.

That was what Megaton wanted to change. And Soundwave wholeheartedly supported the Lord High Protector in reaching that goal, no matter what they needed to do to achieve it.

Reaching the lift that would take him the few levels up Soundwave calmly entered the platform and waited to be taken to his destination.

The door to the anteroom of the Lord High Protectors office came into view kliks later and Soundwave walked through the little room, not favoring the secretary any glances.

Entering the office he saw Megatron sitting behind the desk looking into several datapads.

“Ah, Soundwave. Take a seat and look at this.” Megatron told him, and when he sat in the chair in front of the desk Megatron handed him a pad. 

Reading the content, the telepath growled at the praising wording that filled most of the document. The senators were clearly busy painting a nice picture of the former Prime, and wasted no time to suggest a lit de parade for the mech.

Uttering a sound that resembled a snort, something rare for the telepath, he looked up and found his own thoughts shimmering in the optics of the Lord High Protector.

“This “lit de parade” is going to be a fancy way for them to show their ‘sincerity’, and only that. And the cost of it” Megatron sighed before he completed the last of the sentence “Is ridiculous” 

Handing the telepath another datapad, Soundwave took the pad and studied it.

“The only thing that I can consent to in all of this is that Alpha Trion has requested the Matrix, currently kept in my private safe, so that it may be showed together with the former Prime.” At that Megatron sounded oddly pleased.

Alpha Trion was the head of the elder counsel, an old and respected gathering of mechs that honored Primus. They had from since the first transformers appeared, been the ones to choose the next Prime, if the former died.

That the ancient mech had not wasted any time planning how to address the Lord High Protector told Megatron, that at least the old mechs was not influenced by the corruption spreading from the Senate.

That filled him with hope for a new Prime to tip the scale in favor of the weakest in their society, a Prime that would truly work for the better good of his people, and not just lazily enjoy the conformity of wealth that the post granted.

“When will Alpha Trion arrive?” Soundwave asked, curious.

“Shortly. At least he is a mech that gets things done unlike the Senate.” Megatron said.

o o o

Orion Pax reverently studied the surroundings. The dockworker had not been to the temple of the Prime before and silently marveled in the outstanding architecture.

As the line of mechs slowly progressed into the temple itself, as the transformers showed their Prime one last gesture, he got to see more and more of the sculptures and art that filled the walls and corridors of the massive building. His optics roamed every surface to take in every expression on the sculptures said to copy former Primes long gone.

Before and behind him other common transformers did the same. Not many from the common society had had any chance to be here before and greedily took everything around them in.

Finally close enough to see the plateau on which the former Prime had been laid, he saw a shimmering light shine to the right, beside the plateau.

Wondering what that was he patiently waited until he would be close enough to see what it was that had caught his optics.

A cycle went and he was finally able to see from where that shining light originated. There on a beautiful pedestal was a marvelous artifact exhibited. It shone in every color possible and gave of readings of warmth. As the light engulfed the mechs close enough to stand within its reach calm settled over their sparks.

Some mech in the procession whispered reverently, informing the rest of what lay before their optics.

“The Matrix.”

o o o

Hound was on duty this orn, watching over the dead Prime and the Matrix.

It had been a few lunarcycles since the fatal night cycle when the Prime had been assassinated. The bureaucracy had stalled the preparations for this occasion, since the Senate seemed to have troubles convincing the Lord High Protector that the whole ordeal was needed and worth the hefty amount of credits they had intended to spend.

But finally the Lord High Protector had relented, and the temple had been shined up to its most beautiful standard.

Then the elder counsel had proclaimed that the Matrix would be exhibited together with the dead Prime, and the security had had to be increased, why Hound now stood by the plateau together with several other guards to watch over the most precious artifact in all the transformers history and its former bearer.

Beside him Tracks was yawning. The vain mech was troublesome to deal with and rarely showed proper care in his work as a guard.

He knew that the blue and silver mech preferred something a bit more exciting, but at least they would not end in any kind of fight that could torque the vain mech off. Hound smiled at that thought. If there was mech as vain as Tracks he really would like to see that one.

Hound had watched the procession of mech wander by the plateau for some cycles now, and he had to agree with Tracks at some point, it was boring to stand and watch and be ready, just in case anything happened.

He preferred to be home at Ratchets medbay and socialize with the seekerling. The little thing had settled quite well, when the worst misunderstandings was over and the two adopted creators had learnt what to do, and not to do.

Still some misunderstandings occurred. Most just leaving the autobots laughing at themselves or the seekerling, whoever was at fault.

Since Hound had begun to take the little one with him on his travels in the wilderness, the recharge had not been an issue, and Ratchet’s mood had greatly improved. And Hound got the needed space to feel his spark swirl when he felt the wilderness surrounding him.

At a few occasions he had come upon a seeker, mostly flying high up in the atmosphere of the planet, but he had been wary of anything that might lead to them being followed. He knew that you suddenly could be facing one if you weren’t careful. And having the seekerling with him could cause a lot of problems if such a situation ever occurred.

To his relief the sightings of the seekers had not done anything to the seekerling. It had just stared up into the air to see what was making the noise it heard, and didn’t seem to connect the sight of wings with itself.

A sigh escaping his vocalizer he pictured the seekerling the few times when Ratchet had melded to the pleading optics. The time he had found Ratchet slowly dancing with it was one he really treasured, the medic had for once been completely relaxed, and the seekerling clinging to the medic in its recharge had been so cute. Those interactions had occurred more frequently since then, the medic connecting more and more with their little one.

Wondering what the medic was doing at the moment he was startled when sounds drew him from his thoughts.

Around him his fellow guards was moving, and in the distance someone was shouting.

Optics skimming the area he soon found what had caused the ruckus.

A transformer from the crowd was standing in front of the Matrix, hand outstretched and touching the holy relic.

Moving Hound followed the other guards to the pedestal to remove the mech.

But when they came closer to the relic a force field held them back, and no matter how hard they fought to get to the mech the barrier held.

At some point one of the guards decided to fire a warning shot at the mech, but the blast just ricocheted from the barrier and impacted with the ceiling.

Somehow the disturbance had invoked Alpha Trion’s attention, and the leader of the elder counsel stopped the guards in their actions, silently watching the mech covered in the shining light closely.

As some breems went by a smile formed on the ancient mechs faceplate and he walked towards the light. As the elder reached the barrier he without any hindrance progressed through it. One of the guards trying to follow the elder mech was stopped and looked at the invisible barrier that held him back with confusion.

Hound was sure he shared the same thought at everyone else, how was Alpha Trion able to cross the threshold while no one else could?

As the ancient mech reached the pedestal that held the relic he slowly lifted it and with a respectful stance handed the relic to the other.

When the relic touched the mech completely, the light disappeared and Hound could finally see that the mech that had been given the Matrix was colored a nice combination of blue and red. And as Alpha Trion led the mech away from the crowd and into the sacred parts of the temple he saw the shining blue optics.

With awe he followed the retreating shapes as the vanished from sight, and they were left in almost complete darkness. The calming vibrations that the relic had emitted still lingered, but soon those left the room too.

Returning to their posts, the guards; a lot more solemn than before resumed watching the people wishing to show the dead Prime one last honor.

o o o

Orion was confused.

One moment he had been watching the dead Prime on lit de parade, the next he had found himself standing before the Matrix, strange voices calling to him.

The artifact had been so alluring that he had not been able to not reach to touch it, and then light had encased him.

In the distance he had heard people shouting, but it had only been like distant noise. The voice talking to him was a lot clearer.

Or voices. It had been like a cacophony of vocalizers talking to him at the same time, and he had been able to understand each one of them. Some had been praising. Some had talked about duty. And some even had talked about past, present and future.

Then at some point he sensed another’s presence and he had seen the ancient mech standing beside him, smiling. The mech had handed him the relic. Him, a lowly dockworker. And he had accepted the relic, and with it everything that the voices had told him.

Soon he found himself led to the most beautiful chamber he had ever seen, and there he had been told to await the inauguration. His inauguration as Prime as crazy as it all sounded.

But it had been true. A group of mech, all looking just as old as the first one that had led him there entered the room and a ritual that had ended with the relic placed inside him, before his spark had taken place.

And then they had proclaimed:

“Rise Optimus of the Primes”

And the name felt right in his mind.


	8. Chapter 8

Temple of the Prime:  
Megatron was called to the temple of the Prime several orns after he was informed that the new Prime had been found. The Prime had had a little time to adjust to his new life before he was thrown before the menagerie that was the Senate and his Lord High Protector.

Megatron had accepted the waiting, knowing well enough what the Prime would face when he went public for his very first time. Dealing with the obnoxious senators would be a great challenge for the newcomer.

Megatron had decided to wait and see how his new partner in power fared with the Senate. If the mech managed to steer out of the corruption that the politicians was so good to seed in people, they could do a lot of good for their people, but if the Prime succumbed to the corruption, well Megatron still had his army waiting in Cybertron’s wilderness. 

If he could avoid throwing the people into a war he preferred to do so, but it all depended on the new Prime.

Reaching the temple he greeted the guards on duty before entering the massive building.

Walking up the long aisle he reached the chambers in the back of the large hall where he was greeted by the new Primes secretary.

“Greetings Lord High Protector.” The yellow mech announced.

Nodding the Lord High Protector strode past the mech and into the antechamber leading to the Primes private quarters.

The door to the quarters opened not a breem later and Megatron found his optics looking up and down, slowly scrutinizing the mech before him.

The first thing he lingered on was the blue eyes. They drew him in with a disturbingly calm effect. The blue color was neither cold nor hard, but told about a mech caring for the people around him.

Then his optics registered the battle mask covering the lower part of the face. Frowning, the Lord High Protector filed that information away to study later.

Measuring the other he learnt that they were of almost same size, with the Lord High Protector slightly higher than the Prime.

All in all Megatron decided that he was pleased with what he was seeing. And the blue and red color scheme was something that didn’t clash awful to the optics.

Then the rumbling sound of the other registered and the Lord High Protector felt a tingling in his core. Yes, he liked the mech before him. He just hoped that they would be able to work together to better their society. He would hate to have to kill the other if it came to that.

Responding to the greeting that the Prime had voiced he followed the other into the private quarters to formalize more with the mech.

o o o

Unnamed forest in the northern hemisphere:

The time for the gathering had come and Thundercracker was on his way to the location he had scouted lunarcycles before. The Winglord was eager to meet with the seekers joining, and hoping to see one certain seeker show up.

He had yet to voice the trine-challenge to the black and purple seeker, and was excited to see how the other would react. Well aware that the proceedings could end badly, with the intended seeker being a “nothing” he hoped that the black and purple seeker would react positively to his offer.

Thundercracker was undoubtly the seeker with the closest knowledge of the unpredictable “nothing”’s, he had have to deal with one last gathering.

A “nothing” had prematurely entered its heat and tried to hide the condition from the seekers in its clan. When the clan leader finally ascertained its condition the seeker had been thrown before the Winglord to be dealt with. The seeker was untrined and was not ready to form any bonds with other seekers, if they even wanted ‘it’.

The seeker had trembled in fear at the sight of the large Winglord standing above its panting and convulsing frame, the seeker not even able to keep its footing.

Thundercracker had hated what he had then done. Hated himself for putting the other through the nightmare it all clearly had been to the heat suffering seeker.

The Winglord had had no option, actually no choice at all when the seekers condition affected his own frame, and his rut rose.

Shuddering he recalled the shrieking from the seeker as he had forced himself on the other. It was then clear that even if the frame transmitted the proper signals to tell the seeker was in heat, the mind was not cooperating.

As the rut finally subsided with the third overload in the seeker, the Winglord rose from the position when his spike was released from the quivering valve. Shaking his head, as if he still wasn’t in the right of minds, he looked down at the seeker beneath him.

Fear, anguish and an underlying anger was in the seekers optics.

Stumbling away Thundercracker let the seeker flee the area, stopping those that seemed to want to follow the fleeing figure.

That experience had been one of the worst he had ever had with a “nothing” and he silently thanked “The Sky Above” that so few of them reached the age of maturity.

Of course he adored the black and purple seeker, but that one was to become HIS, the seeker he had mated with a stellar cycle ago was not.

Ever since he had not seen the seeker and lunarcycles ago he had felt the little part of its spark dissolve from his own.

No sign of the seekerling that he knew he had sparked in the deactivated seeker had been found.

o o o

Outskirts of forest in the northern hemisphere:  
Skywarp was furious.

The black and purple seeker did not care about the regular gathering the other seekers participated in every stellar cycle.

No.

He knew that joining the masses would not do him any good, other than risk being singled out by wicked dominants that sought to tick of his dominant coding and enjoy finish the “nothing” off.

And they would not be at any fault if they did.

So when the clan leader had sought the black and purple seeker out and ordered him to attend to the gathering, Skywarp had left in a fit of rage.

Why the clan leader hadn’t trashed him for his outburst, the seeker didn’t know. He was used to it after all.

Since then he had not showed up to any meetings regarding the clan and had flown alone, far away from his clan’s territory.

And he sure didn’t plan on attending the gathering no matter what excuse his leader had for him to do so.

The black and purple “nothing” was used to be an outcast, and before now his leader had not cared anything about him at all.

Why that had changed, Skywarp didn’t know. But it was sure to be something that he didn’t want anything to do with.

That was why he currently flew in the outskirts of the huge forest that bordered to one of the other clan’s territory.

o o o

Location of the gathering:  
‘Swift flight’ would prefer to be anywhere but where he was at the moment.

The black and purple menace had defied him again and again since he had proclaimed that the seeker was to attend the coming gathering.

He had not spilled the truth to the seeker, since that was Thundercrackers right as the suitor. That had made the talk he had had with Skywarp the more complicated, and the whole ordeal had turned disastrous.

He had not seen the black and purple seeker in a whole lunar cycle.

Now the clan leader stood before the Winglord and had to explain why his intended wasn’t at the gathering as ordered. He just hoped that the fury that he knew the news would cause didn’t go as far as getting him deactivated.

Thundercracker was reasonable, but only to a certain degree.

/Winglord./ the red and yellow clan leader greeted.

/Swift flight./ Thundercracker turned his attention to the clan leader, ignoring the other seekers flocking around him in favor of the leader of his future trinemate.

Not sure how to break the bad news, the clan leaders wings twitched.

The Winglord sensing and seeing the distress in the others wings growled.

/He isn’t coming!/ the Winglord concluded and the roar of his engines stilled every communication between the nearby seekers.

/No./ ‘Swift flight’ told, defeat written all over his frame. The misery that the clan leader visibly showed was his savior; the clan leader’s submissive stance with drooping wings and down cast optics transferred the anger from the clan leader to the actual cause of the distress – Skywarp.

/Now now, calm down my dear ‘Loud In The Air’/ came the soothing voice of the Winglords carrier. The seeker had been summoned by the sound of its creations engine, a sound that was so Thundercrackers own that it was unmistakably.

/He. Isn’t. Coming. Carri./ the Winglords vocalizer wavered as he shrieked the words. /He don’t want me./ he continued sounding miserable.

/You don’t know that dear./ the carrier mended, while with gentle claws telling the clan leader that he was free to go. Something that ‘Swift flight’ took to spark and a klik later the red and yellow seeker was nowhere to be seen.

/What do I do?/ Thundercracker asked his carrier, looking as vulnerable as a just birthed seekerling.

The carrier just poked the blue seeker in the chest to state where the answer to that question would be.

In his spark.

The blue seeker hung his head at the gesture, despairing in his own shortcoming.

Why did it all have to be this hard? Why didn’t his intended want him? Why didn’t he come?

As he continued asking those questions, awareness grew in his mind.

If he was to get the answers he would have to ask the black and purple seeker himself.

Somehow he managed to steel himself and when he looked up, his carrier could see some understanding had formed in the blue seeker.

Smiling the blue and yellow seeker gestured to the sky.

/Get going./ 

o o o

Unnamed forest in the northern hemisphere:  
Several cycles later the Lord High Protector left the temple of the Prime, somehow satisfied with the new Prime. It seemed that he finally had gotten a Prime that intended to work towards the same goals as the Lord High Protector. But he would have to wait and see how the new Prime handled the Senate to see if his dreams of a Cybertron caring for all its citizens would come true.

After he had left the temple, he had been by his tower and gathered items he would need before venturing into the wilderness to watch the seekers. It was time for the gathering, and he hoped to learn more about the strange flying transformers.

Megatron kept a distance as he always did, since the first time he had come upon the seekers.

Not eager to deal with several enraged animal-like transformers he had had Shockwave invent a special drone when he decided to keep optics on the strange flight capable transformers, and had received the miniature drone he currently watched the seekers through.

The drone was equipped with a camera and a microphone, together with enhanced stealth technology. It was crafty and able to travel the shifting ground of the forests. The perfect spying device when it came to the wild seekers.

At the moment he watched the blue seeker “talk” with a yellow and red one. The stances the two showed made the Lord High Protector wish that the scientist had been able to develop a program that could translate the seekers’ strange language to common cybertronian, but so far Shockwave had just shook his head when he asked. The differences simply seemed too great to deal with.

When things seemed to escalate with the yellow and red seeker almost groveling in the dirt before the leader, a blue and yellow seeker appeared and somewhat diffused the tension that had been building.

Shortly afterwards the blue seeker had taken to the sky, leaving.

That left the Lord High Protector puzzled.

The blue seeker had never done that before; it had always been at the gathering and only left after several orns, not shortly after it had arrived.

Deciding that what the blue seeker was doing was the most intriguing he ordered the drone to return to his current location as he took off, following the exhaust trail the blue seeker left in the air.

o o o

Forest in the northern hemisphere:  
Thundercracker followed his spark. Or more particularly the part of his spark that was Skywarp.

Singling the black and purple seeker out from all the others had been surprisingly easy. It had been almost like this was to happen and that the flighty seekers spark was eager to be claimed, leading the blue seeker to the location of his intended.

The warm fussiness in his spark lead him closer and closer to his destination, that as he flew crossed several clan borders. How the black and purple seeker had managed to fly unnoticed through this large an area the Winglord didn’t know.

Even if the seekers were united, the clans fought among each other to hold certain territories in the forests. If a seeker from another clan crossed the territory of another clan, without seeking the clan leader to show that the act wasn’t hostile, the trespassing seeker would risk facing a group of defending seekers, which would defend their territory viciously. Only the Winglord was allowed to disregard the clan territories as the highest in the hierarchy.

To sustain the growing seeker population the seekers followed strict traditions.

Every vorn the seekers would leave the northern hemisphere and fly to populate the forests in the southern part of the planet. This was done to let the forests regenerate and be able to house and feed the growing population.

Seekers fuelled and feed on the various critters living in the forests. Everything from petro rabbits to turbo foxes and what else lived among the trees was their prey. Now and then an unfortunate cybertronian would find himself as prey too.

Why the animals were so important to the seekers was due to their difference from the cybertronians. Seekerlings was birthed into their true form, and didn’t require new frames as they grew. Their frame slowly grew as the seeker matured, and due to that growth, they needed fuel as well as the basic metals to support the growing frame.

This was why clan fights could occur. They would fight for the right to hold the areas of the forests that held the most animals, and thus fuel for both the mature as well as the next generation of seekers.

Thundercracker as the Winglord was the only seeker that could fly in the forests that the seekers occupied at the time, without risking getting deactivated by hostile defenders.

And that was why he cursed Skywarp for running that great risk.

Because even as most of the clan leaders and their people at the moment attended the gathering, there were always seekers defending the clan territories from trespassing seekers.

As the sun stood high in the sky he got the faint visual of the black and purple seeker, far away in the distance, and he slowed down his speed.

He knew very well about Skywarps special ability, and if he wanted to get close enough to catch the other seeker he needed to be as silent as possible or the other would just disappear. And Thundercracker had not flown this far just to watch his prey disappear in the air.

Sneaking up on the other seeker would be difficult and while he kept the distance to the black and purple seeker he watched the others flight path. If Skywarp was distracted and not aware of his surroundings, the blue seeker would be able to get fairly close to the other before his engines would alert the seeker to his presence.

o o o

Skywarps internal ranting was disturbed by a warning entering his visual.

He was low on fuel.

Cursing he contemplated what to do.

At the moment he was above another clan’s territory and he could run the risk and hunt in the forest below him. But if he was caught, he risked being heavily damaged, maybe even deactivated by defending seekers. The other option was to return to his clan’s territory and refuel. That would mean the risk of being caught by his own clan, maybe damaged, but surely not deactivated for his defying the clan leader.

Deciding that the last option was the best he banked and headed back the way he had come.  
That unfortunately for Thundercracker revealed the Winglords presence to the black and purple seeker, and the Winglord could actually see the others wings vibrating in surprise and then fear.

Skywarp knew he was scrap if he didn’t do anything to avoid the other seeker.

But the black and purple seeker was out of any luck.

As he tried to engage his teleportation his systems came back telling him that fuel levels was too low.

Crap. Crap. Crap. The seeker cursed.

As he watched, the Winglord came closer and closer, and when the blue seeker was so close that Skywarp could see the white and red stipe of color on the blue wings Thundercracker transformed into his bipedal.

Watchful and wary the black and purple seeker did the same, and waited for the Winglord to make the next move.

Thundercracker studied the other seeker not far away. He was curious to know why the black and purple seeker hadn’t fled like he had expected.

None the less he drifted closer, trying to show as little hostility as possible, even as he still was quite enraged by the other seekers defiance.

/Greetings ‘Disappear In The Air./ Thundercracker began.

The black and purple seekers wings perked slightly at the greeting; Skywarp hadn’t expected that the Winglord knew of his call sign.

With a nod Skywarp returned the greeting before remembering who he actually was addressing.

/Winglord./ he almost whispered, but loud enough that the other heard.

Drifting further closer to the other, as close that mere feet distanced the two seekers from touching cockpit to cockpit, Thundercrackers optics bore into the others with determination.

/Why did you defy your clan leader?/ he asked, holding his anger in check.

Huffing the black and purple seeker fought the urge to back away from the Winglord closing in on him.

/I don’t give a slag what that thickheaded dumbass of a clan leader think, say or do. He has done nothing for me./ Skywarp growled as he thought about his clan leader and his orders.

Narrowing his optics Thundercracker felt the growing anger in his spark.

That “nothing” was either suicidal or plain stupid.

/Is that so?/ the Winglord vented out loud and began circling the black and purple seeker.

/Uh. Yeah!/ Skywarp voiced boldly.

But the boldness left him when Thundercracker reached the point where the other no longer could watch the blue seeker, and the black and purple wings began to twitch, trying to register what his optics no longer could tell him. He didn’t dare make a move to follow the Winglord with his optics; he knew he was in trouble.

/So you decided to ignore an order from you clan leader. That is an offence against said leader. But even more, you defied an order from your clan leader that I had told him to tell you. Now, my dear Sky, tell me what is the punishment for not following the Winglord?/ Thundercracker asked as he studied the other.

The black and purple seekers engine spluttered and the seeker dipped in the air as Thundercracker once again came into view.

Gulping an amount of air to cool his frantic systems the black and purple seeker stuttered as the next words left his vocalizer.

/Uh. Well. Mo- Mostly de-deactivation./ he said, wings drooping. /B-But ‘Swift flight’ didn’t tell the order came from you Winglord./ the seeker tried.

/And that is the only reason why you are still here./ Thundercracker consoled.

Now that the Winglord knew that the reason for the black and purple seeker not showing up WASN’T because the seeker defied the Winglord self, the anger slowly diffused and his mind was filled with the need for the other seeker.

As the anger left the Winglords wings Skywarp relaxed, it seemed he would survive this encounter at least. Greeting the Winglord one last time, the black and purple seeker made to transform back into his altmode.

That act roused Thundercracker from his thoughts and the Winglord managed to get one of his clawed servos around one of the delicate black thrusters, disrupting the transformation.

/Not done yet!/ he growled, some of the anger returning.

What was it with this “nothing” and disobeying?

Reversing the transformation Skywarp once more stood and faced the Winglord, his optics quite puzzled.

Skywarp receiving the warning once more about his low fuel level sighed.

/Sorry. ‘M sorry. My levels are low and I need to go soon or I won’t be able to return to my clan’s territory./ He explained to the blue seeker.

Gesturing to the forest below Thundercracker mended.

/Then hunt with me. I have something I need to do and that requires you./ he explained. Some benefits to being the Winglord came in handy now and then.

Diving into the forest to seek out their prey they soon was fueling on an unlucky pair of petro rabbits. The crunching sound of metals being chewed and crushed between hardened dentas could be heard in the silent forest for some time.

Reenergized and content Thundercracker once again studied the black and purple seeker, this time as the other finished consuming the fuel stored in the rabbit’s fuel tank. The seeker had been fast in locating their prey, and Thundercracker had to admit to himself that he was impressed.

His mind returning to why he still was there with the other seeker he took to the air and gestured to Skywarp to follow.

The Trine challenge needed to be given in the air.

When the challenge had been issued, a hunt would occur that would require all their abilities to catch the other and avoid being caught themselves.

When caught the seeker catching would stake the claim of the other, and the caught seeker then had to either refuse or accept.

If the seeker accepted nothing more would be of it.

But if it refused the claim, another stage in the challenge would occur.

This part would end with the seekers fighting.

At some point one of the seekers would outdo the other and stake the claim once more. If the claim once more were refused the seekers would fight until the other accepted or deactivated.

But it rarely did end with deactivated seekers, and the most challenges ended with the aerial hunt, since a challenge was rare and a claim even more if the seekers didn’t feel any shed of connection.

With his current predicament Thundercracker didn’t know of the others thought towards him, and guessed that Skywarp not even thought about the Winglord as a potential trinemate and possible mate. It seemed the black and purple seeker didn’t socialize much with the other seekers in his clan and was more of a loner.

But never the less, he wanted to try and coax the black and purple seeker to accept. Thundercracker was sure that he would be able to catch the other. Even if Skywarp teleported now and then.

Reaching an altitude of 23.000 ft. Thundercracker waited for the black and purple seeker to join him in the air.

When the other seeker a few kliks later came into view, the Winglords spark fluttered with excitement of what was to come. This part was one of the most joyous in the challenge.

The trine challenge was as tradition one of the most important events in any seekers life with the forming and joining of a unit together with his intended trinemates, possible mates and maybe even sparkmate.

Not every trinemate was guaranteed to be a seekers sparkmate, but fairly often it happened that at least one of the trinemates would be as synched to form a sparkbond beyond the existing trinebond with one of his trinemates.

When the black and purple seeker reached the Winglord, Thundercracker let out a very specific lyrical trill that every seeker, from seekerling to mature seeker recognized.

Thundercracker just managed to silence the squeal of happiness that threatened to leave his vocalizer at the sight of the other seeker dropping several feet in the air when the lyrical trill registered in its audios.

But the seeker managed to regain its wits, and with certain boldness returned the challenge before banking and flying away in its highest speed.

The hunt was on.


	9. Chapter 9

Location of the Trine-challenge:  
Megatron had followed the blue seeker to another part of the large forest that the gathering was held in, and had watched as the two seekers “talked”.

It was obvious to the Lord High Protector that the black and purple seeker that seemed to be the reason for why the leader had left the gathering, was distraught at being found. And when the “talk” continued the ire in both seekers slightly escalated, until the black and purple seeker transformed, or tried to.

Then he had watched the seekers take off somewhere, and he had not been able to trace them for some time.

When he almost had given up finding the seekers again, the blue seeker emerged from the forest, some few miles away, and flew straight into the air, quickly gaining altitude. A little later the black and purple seeker followed.

When the blue seeker had let out an intriguing melodically sound the black and purple had responded in the same tone and had then taken off, leaving the blue seeker.

Thinking that that was just that, Megatron had been about to return to the gathering, expecting the blue seeker to be going that same way.

But the blue seeker had not left, going back to the gathering.

No.

It had engaged its engines at full power, the sound deafening, and had flown off in the direction of the departing seeker.

Before long the seekers were only small specks in the distance.

Growling Megatron had then begun to walk in the direction the seekers had left. This all had become more and more of a mystery to him.

What was it with these two seekers?

o o o

The air above forest in the Northern hemisphere:  
Skywarp KNEW the Winglord was pursuing him, he just knew. That was what this all was about; the black and purple seeker trying to avoid getting caught, testing the other seekers abilities, and then at some point trying to catch the blue seeker himself.

But to survive the hunt long enough to get an advantage over the Winglord himself Skywarp needed time to lure the blue seeker into a trap. After all he stood no chance against the other seeker if he didn’t use all the resources he had.

He knew that it was most likely for Thundercracker to catch him, even with his own special teleportation ability, and that the black and purple seeker would just prolong the hunt by doing what he could to keep distance to the blue seeker, but who caught who didn’t matter, and all that mattered was to prove one’s worthiness to the other.

Alerted to the fact that the Winglord was gaining in on him Skywarp engaged his teleportation to disappear and confuse the other, making the blue seeker wary. It would take some time for Thundercracker to locate him again, and that time the black and purple seeker would use to once more increase the distance.

Skywarp was simply teasing the other, playing and enjoying the role as prey and hoping to become the predator.  
…  
Thundercracker growled as he watched Skywarp vanish not far ahead of him. Sensors alert he scanned his surroundings for any trace that would lead to the new location of the black and purple seeker.

A breem passed, and then he got a faint signal to his right, a little above his current location and altitude.

Adjusting to the new altitude to get the other seeker in his visual he lazily slowed down his speed and just followed the trail of the other for some time. He hoped to lull Skywarp into a feeling of false security before once again attempting an advance.

While he flew Skywarp contemplated the fact that HE, an in most of the seekers’ optics worthless “nothing” was being challenged by the fragging WINGLORD. The whole thing seemed so unreal to the purple seeker.

Not that he complained.

The Winglord was a nice catch.  
…  
Several stellar cycles ago Skywarp had lured on the blue seeker when the Winglord visited his clan to keep track of how everything was going. 

With the growing population of seekers Thundercracker needed to keep optics on how the forests resources of animals fared, to decide when to order the clans to leave the current territories to travel to the forests in the southern part of the planet. If their prey became scarce it was time to leave, before they completely devoured too much of their prey for the animals to replenish.

The seekers were well aware of the cycle of the nature in the forests.

At a time long long ago the seekers had almost hunted their prey to extinction, and they had starved, beginning to prey on the only prey left for them beyond their own kin – the ground bound transformers populating the planet together with them.

That time had given the seekers their reputation of being brutal and bestial beings, and with that mark on the flying transformers, the general opinion of the seekers being less sentient had formed. Since then the seekers had been hunted for sport, seen as every other animal on the planet.

What the grounders didn’t understand was that the seekers were much like them. A solid society formed of strict traditions and rules. If it weren’t for the inability to understand each other the autobots and decepticons might have recognized how complicated and like them the seekers were. The Lord High Protector might even have recognized a people living by his own cherished ideals. Every seeker, whether it being a dominant, submissive, carrier, creator or vulnerable seekerling was treasured evenly, each contributing to the society in their own way. 

 

Therefor Thundercracker took his duty as Winglord serious and kept an eye on the development in every clan’s territory, to avoid his people starving and turning to desperate measures that, with the current population of grounders might lead to his people’s demise.

And that was why Skywarp had seen the blue seeker one orn, when the Winglord was by his clan leader to get an update.

Something strange had drawn the seeker to just stand and watch the elegant large blue wings move in relaxed patterns on the impressive back of the Winglord.

Then when the Winglord, alerted by his sensors to the other seekers starring had turned and looked at the black and purple seeker, Skywarp had fidgeted before he abruptly took to the air, flustered at what he had been doing.

What the black and purple seeker didn’t know was that the blue seeker had watched his frame until he was completely out of sight, and then had turned to the clan leader, asking who that black and purple seeker was?

When the clan leader in a demeaning tone had told of the “nothing” in his clan the Winglord had frowned, feeling a rising anger with every word the other said about the black and purple seeker. At the time Thundercracker hadn’t been certain what he felt in his frame and spark and had dismissed his feelings returning to the matter of his presence.

Now he knew that it was his spark recognizing his future trinemate in the black and purple “nothing”.

When the Winglord first had come to the clan leader some time later to address him on the topic of challenging the “nothing”, ‘Swift flight’ had looked incredulous at him and had in a firm tone denied the request.

Thundercracker had left with wings held high and stiff on his back.

It must have taken ‘Swift flight’ a great amount of courage to refuse the Winglord himself.

And Thundercracker knew nothing of the disturbed recharge cycles the red and yellow seeker had had following the confrontation. ‘Swift flight’ had been certain that the blue seeker would return with vengeance, it had happened before, even if the clan leaders were the highest ranking when it came to forming of trines.

But the Winglord had not done anything, and time went by like always.

Then Thundercracker had been by for the next update, and once again he had voiced his request to court the other seeker with the challenge. And once again he had been denied.

The routine kept going on for some time, and finally ‘Swift flight’ relented to the request, feeling the other’s determination on the subject.

It had been a pleased and overjoyed Winglord that had left the territory of the ‘Quick flight’ clan.

And now the two seekers were finally engaged in the trine challenge, high above the surface of Cybertron.  
…  
A half cycle had passed since Thundercracker had issued the challenge and the first unsuccessful advance upon the black and purple seeker.

Thundercracker was lazily following the trinemate to be, preparing to try once again to catch the other, hoping that he had succeeded in luring Skywarp into a false security. The time he had followed the other, Skywarp had made no attempt to lose him or to engage the Winglord himself.

Thundercracker was wondering what the black and purple seeker was planning, since this calmness seemed nothing like the Skywarp he had heard of from the clan leader and the seekers in the clan that knew of the loner.

Skywarp had a trademark of being unpredictable and erratic in his moves, and Thundercracker knew that whatever the other planned, he would not be able to foresee the act.  
…  
Some breems passed and the two seekers carried on flying in the height of 25.000ft.

Then suddenly the black and purple seeker vanished from sight.

Thundercracker was alert when he saw Skywarp disappear in a mist of purple; this was what he had waited for, the moment where the black and purple seeker would make his move. With sensors wide alert to his surroundings he increased his speed.

Skywarp studied the Winglord from a distance, he had teleported behind the blue seeker in an attempt to make Thundercracker lose the track of him, and so far it seemed to work, with the blue frame flying away from him.

With an amused laughter he once more sped up to catch up to the leaving seeker.  
…  
When a few breems of silence and no trace of the black and purple seeker passed Thundercracker grew more and more wary of his surroundings.

It was hard to surprise seekers, but Skywarp with his ability would not need to be as careful with gaining in on Thundercracker, as the blue seeker would need to be if he was to surprise the other. With his ability to teleport he just needed Thundercracker to be within the range of his teleportation to swipe within striking range to catch the Winglord.

Of course the Winglord was not defenseless, and had his own special ability that he could engage if he wanted. But it required him to be within melee range of Skywarp to be useful, and was more offensive than the teleportation ability was.

Then suddenly he felt the air around him vibrate with charged energy and his instincts made him engage his engine fully, the thrusters spitting blue flames of death.

And just a few kliks later a purple mist heralded the arrival of Skywarp. The black and purple seeker was in bipedal prepared to catch him if he got the chance.

Growling Thundercracker forced his thrusters to push him even faster.

Skywarp watched the Winglord push his systems to the edge of their ability and smiled when the blue seeker managed to increase the distance.  
With an evil smirk he engaged his teleportation once more, wanting to play with the fleeing frame of the blue seeker.

Thundercracker managed to swallow the surprised squawk that threatened to leave his vocalizer when Skywarp appeared to his left. Before he could register the seeker fully the teleporter was gone, to only a klik later appear on his right, for then only to vanish again.

Skywarp was playing with him, while showing off at the same time.

The act of the other fuelled the need to catch the black and purple menace to show him who he was dealing with. And when the black and purple seeker appeared once more, not too far away from the blue seeker Thundercracker took the chance.

He let his sonic boom go.

The wall of sound charging the teleporting seekers systems stalled them for precious kliks, making the seeker unable to use his teleportation and to access his other major functions.

The result was that Skywarp found himself rapidly falling from the sky towards the ground.

When he regained the control he found himself in the grasp of the blue seeker, wrapped securely in blue wings that vibrated with pride.

The yellow optics of the Winglord shone with joy. This was the first time he touched Skywarp, and the feel, the connection to the other was so much stronger. The need flooded is systems and he wasted no time in making the result of the hunt clear.

With a purr he issued the claim of the other, eagerly awaiting the response.

As his focus returned to what was happening around him Skywarp had no time to enjoy the feel of the others frame wrapped around him own.

The sonic boom had screwed with more than just his teleportation and major motor functions when it hit, and while those was righting themselves within a few kliks something else didn’t.

His coding went awry and the dominant part of his being surface.

And it was NOT happy with what was going on.

There was a reason why a trine only held ONE dominant after all.

Submissive seekers functioned perfectly together with other submissive seekers, while there among the dominants always were issued challenges.

And for a dominant to be claimed by another dominant would only spell destruction.

Thundercracker was unaware of the change in the black and purple seeker, and expected Skywarp to accept his challenge. The hunt had showed him that Skywarp had felt some of the same as he did, or the black and purple seeker would not have reacted as he had during the challenge.

And that was why he was taken completely by surprise when an angry menacing growl left the others vocalizer.

The sound caused the Winglord to release Skywarp abruptly, his instincts and dominant coding telling him of the danger and the need for distance to increase his defense.

/Skywarp?/ he asked, unsure.

He received no reply from the taut and stiff seeker before him.

Before he managed to do or say anything else the black and purple seeker turned to face him with cold yellow optics. It was clearly that he studied the blue seeker. And in a way that made Thundercracker flare his wings on instinct.

Before the other seeker threw itself at him, Thundercracker managed to understand that he had been refused. And that he with the refusal would need to fight the other for his right to claim the other once more.

His wings drooped slightly at the thought, but he was left little time to think before Skywarp was on him, claws drawn to hurt and wound.

o o o

Megatron had finally caught up with the seekers and had watched the final part of the hunt with deep interest.

He had understood what was happening, and that it was a sort of courting that the two were engaged in.

He had marveled at the black and purple seekers ability to teleport, something that he decided to investigate further when he returned back to Iacon, and when he saw and FELT the boom that came from the blue seeker he reveled in the power of the attack.

Satisfied and participating in the joy that seeped from the blue seeker when it caught the other he awaited what would happen next. This was a part in their culture that he had not witnessed yet, and it deeply fascinated the Lord High Protector.

Then he watched as the blue wings drooped while the black was completely unmoving and held high.

Alert he sensed the danger and unconsciously made sure he was safely hidden from their sight as he saw the blue seeker release the other.

Then suddenly the black and purple seeker was upon the other.

Perplex he looked at the sight of the fighting seekers.

That he had not expected.

o o o

Before the fight began Skywarp would have known that it was already settled; his dominant coding however didn’t care.

If none of the true dominants was able to best Thundercracker, how would a “nothing”, missing the strength and size to dominate the other manage to win a fight against him?  
Thundercracker had received plenty of challenges to his status as Winglord, some from the elder seekers deeming him too young to possess the seat as the Winglord, but most of the challengers had been young seekers trying to further their own position in the society.

It was natural of the young dominants to engage in challenges, and most of them were wise enough to admit defeat when found unworthy of the position of Winglord, those survived their challenge. However those unable to admit defeat had been faced with fighting to the death.

That was how it all worked out, tradition and strict rules.

Thundercracker was averse to damage the black and purple seeker when Skywarp charged him with his claws, and just defended himself. But as the time went and more scratches littered his frame and send pained signals to his processor his own dominant coding began to trigger and he began attacking the other.

They were still airborne and soon the fight became a blur of speed when they entered their altmode’s and dove and looped around each other, singeing a wing here, scrapping a cockpit there while firing lasers at the other.

The lasers and other weaponry that the seekers carried within them were rarely used. Why they had such weapon in the first place no one knew. Every seeker developed them when reaching an age of 4 vorns, and they grew with the frame. Some seekers had special weapons, just like the Winglord had his special ability to launch sonic booms, and Skywarp with his teleportation. But even if they had the weapons, the seekers didn’t use them to hunt their prey or any other occasion beyond the occasional fight if the matter the fight resolved around was important enough.

Not that the lasers was such an efficient weapon against other seekers. The seekers were made of a special dense alloy allowing them to pull the extreme forces they needed to fly in the air without being ripped to shreds by the forces playing.

So the lasers only managed to scorch the armor, not wounding the seekers seriously while they fought. Even if Skywarps coding as messed up and made him engage the Winglord in a rage the fight resembled that of a trine challenge fight. As long as Thundercracker managed to dampen his own coding’s need to severely wound the black and purple seeker no serious harm would come to any of the two.

But there is only so long you can hold yourself back when your frame is mercilessly attacked, and Thundercrackers control was slowly slipping away.

As Skywarp charged the Winglord head on and transformed before hitting the blue seeker, grapping the wings of the blue tetrajet Thundercracker lost the last shed of control when his frame was filled with the agonizing pain from his bending wings.

Enough was enough.

Once more he let his sonic boom go and with the close proximity Skywarp was in this time damage occurred to the black and purple frame.

His teleportation and major motor functions once more disabled he once more found himself falling towards the ground.

Thundercracker looked as the other feel with increasingly speed, no feeling towards the other playing in his mind as he watched the black and purple frame impact with the ground forcefully.

He knew it wasn’t enough to deactivate the other.

Skywarp groaned.

He had hit the ground with his wings wrapped around his frame to avoid damaging the more delicate parts of his frame.

Sure the wings was sensitive, but also the most hardened part on a seekers frame, able to take a large amount of damage if the seeker managed to land on the topside of the wings. If it fell and let the underside of the wings take the brunt of the fall the wings would be shredded.

But the seeker didn’t manage to avoid damage completely. As he moved the sound of broken glass was heard and pain filled his processor from his cockpit. When he managed to roll to lie on his wings it was obvious that Skywarp had not been as successful with his move, beside the broken cockpit his chestplates was worryingly damaged to a degree where faint light seeped from behind the metal slates protecting the most precious part of any transformer.

An ominous tremble in the ground alerted the black and purple seeker that Thundercracker had landed.

Looking up he could see the dizzying outline of the blue seeker not far away.

Thundercracker stomped to the damaged figure lying sprawled on the ground. The Winglord had regained some shred of control, which was why he had not charge the prone from of his opponent yet.

The next breems would tell whether Skywarp would live or deactivate by the servos of the seeker that had courted him.

What was happening was what ‘Swift flight’ had feared and why he had denied the Winglord time and time again. Even if Skywarp was a “nothing” he mattered a lot to his creators, with the seekers being protective of their young, but the creators did not have a say in the matter of trines. They would mourn the loss of their creation, while Skywarp would be one of the rare occasions where a seeker died from the trine challenge. And the black and purple seeker would make precedence when it came to “nothing”’s and trine challenges.

The fate of the downed seeker seemed bleak as Thundercracker stalked closer and couched down, coming close to the black and purple seekers faceplates.

Digging his clawed digits between the chestplates Thundercracker shredded them from their hinges and bared the intimate inner workings of the black and purple seeker for the world to see. As he looked at the pain filled optics his servo entered the internals of the other, digging through wires and cables to reach his destination; the seekers main energon line, well hidden and protected behind the seekers sparkchamber.

Skywarp winced as the servo digging in his inside scratched the outer surface of the sparkchamber, the feeling of another’s appendage inside him not at all comfortable.

Reaching the main energon line Thundercracker tightened the servo around the essential fuel line. If the line was to be damaged in any way Skywarp would suffer greatly. The black and purple seeker would bleed out within less than a breem if the line was completely severed.

Skywarp knew what was coming next when he sensed the tightening servo, and he fought to not struggle, dampening his instinctual reactions. Silently he watched and waited for the Winglord to continue, the dominant coding completely gone, the submissive coding recapturing the seeker.

With cold optics Thundercracker studied the prone frame and let his optics wander to the face of the black and purple seeker.

Satisfied he let his wings relax as he voiced his claim once more.

If Skywarp refused this time, the seeker forfeited his life. If he refused Thundercracker would severe the energon line and let the seeker fade until its spark extinguished. There would be no fast death.

With seriousness in his optics he awaited what Skywarp would decide.

After some time, with the black and purple seeker laying there, completely taut and unmoving, optics locked into the Winglord’s emotion bleed into the yellow orbs.

/Yes./ was whimpered. His position was not comfortable and having his essential energon line grabbed by the other was frightening. Skywarp loved to fly, to hunt and to be alive. And he liked the blue seeker. Being this intimate, with the other inside him made his spark flutter in strange ways.

Thundercracker let the grip around the line relax and kept looking at the other for some time, before he withdrew the servo completely.

Skywarp watched docile while Thundercracker covered his chest with the plates. Then the blue seeker began a gesture that would seem strange to any outsiders. He began to retch. The motion carried on for some time until he let out a coughing like sound and spat a clear thick liquid out onto his servo. Then he began to quickly apply the substance to the ruined hinges.

Instantly Skywarps pain eased, the nanite rich substance calming his sensors while they healed the damaged hinges and connected them to his frame again.

Half a cycle later Skywarp was able to stand up, still wincing from the healing wounds he had received at his fall from the sky.

Seekers had increased healing abilities. Their self-repair systems needed to be able to handle the damages that now and then happened to the seekers. The seekers had no medics in their culture; they had had no need for it with the enhanced self-repair and their special nanites that every seeker produced and carried in a special sack connected to their throats.

Their frames were able to regrow a large part of the damages that a seeker could sustain as long as the seeker fuelled properly and thus sustained its systems with the needed materials to cover damaged armor plates and wings and heal delicate wiring.

When Skywarp was recovered enough from his injuries to take to the sky Thundercracker gently caressed the black wings while purring; it was time to rejoin the other seekers at the gathering.  
Responding in kin Skywarp let out a content purr.

Flexing his wings to feel if they were good enough to carry him, he transformed when no pain registered and took to the sky. Soon Thundercracker followed and relaxed enjoyed the others closeness.

o o o

Finally it seemed that they were returning to the other seekers, and Megatron began the tedious walk back to the location of the gathering.

While he returned to his hideout with the drone he thought the new experiences with the seekers through. The flying transformers intrigued him more and more, and he wished that he would be able to study them closer than through the drone. It was so much different to be there with them, sensing the feelings seeping from them firsthand.

A smile was plastered on his face as he arrived at the hideout and sent the drone on its way back to the gathering.

o o o

Location of the gathering:  
As they came close to the gathering Thundercracker decided to show his victory and instead of landing to greet the waiting seekers he circled the area while in an exulting vocal tone telling every seeker about his success.

A few breems later he landed elegantly before his creation trine and greeted ‘Swiftstrike’ with a nod. All serious once again; his creator tended to do that to him, not accepting too much frivolousness from the blue seeker.

/I guess you got your trinemate, dear?/ his blue and yellow carrier asked with a knowing look in the optics.

/Yes, carri./ Thundercracker smiled.

/I still don’t see what you see I him!/ was the curt respond from his creator. But this time the seeker didn’t leave as he used to when Thundercracker didn’t listen to his advices.

/So… Where is he?/ the third member of the trine asked. The seeker rarely spoke. The blue and grey seeker looked interested around to see where the black and purple seeker was.

/Well. You know how it is with him being what he is. He is not happy with the large amount of seekers./ Thundercracker excused the missing seeker.

/Oh. I understand./ the blue and grey seeker answered. He was the calming effect in the clan leader’s trine between Thundercrackers ecstatic carrier and grouchy creator.

As Thundercracker talked with his creation trine Skywarp had landed in the vicinity of the gathering, hoping to not get too much attention from the participating seekers. He didn’t like the large amount of unknown seekers so close to him. He had always kept to himself to avoid conflicts.

Waiting for the Winglord to return to him after addressing his creators Skywarp sat down and relaxed his itching wings against a tree. It took energy from his reserves to heal the damages, and with the hunt and fight his levels was becoming low. Before long he was in recharge not noticing his surroundings.

When he awoke what seemed like a cycle later Thundercracker was still not there.

Opening his optics to look around he found himself looking at a seeker who starred intently at him. The seeker was black and red. And obviously a dominant if the size of the frame was anything to go by.

His instincts screaming at him to flee, he slowly got to his thrusters to be ready if the other made a move.

Inside he cursed himself for letting his guard down by entering recharge. Even if he had been claimed by Thundercracker at the site of the fight they still had to voice it official – until then the “nothing” technically was still free meat to every dominant that wished to play with him.

As Skywarp had gotten to his feet the dominant had begun to walk to his location, the seekers intention clearly written in the mirth that Skywarp could see the optics exulted.

/Well, well, well. What do we have here?/ the black and red seeker asked as he lifted Skywarp from the ground, as servo firmly around the neck.

Panic slowly rose in the black and purple seeker and he could not fight the urge to claw at the restraining servo. He needed the air.

A malicious laugh greeted his weak effort to remove the offending servo from his throat.

/Didn’t know you “nothing”’s dared to intrude on the gathering. After all you have no place here./ the dominant said as he studied Skywarp, noticing the healing damages.

This was why, Skywarp thought, he had defied his clan leader when ordered to attend. No good would have come of it. He might have deactivated even before Thundercracker would have found him, had he followed the order to attend.

The other seeker reached for his itching wings, still healing and quite sensitive to touch.

/Don’t./ he pleaded.

But the servo traveled the last distance and touched the wing. Skywarp convulsed, not completely in pain. The touch wasn’t so bad, if he didn’t know what was sure to come; the gestures gentleness being a mockery.

The next klik his whole frame screamed in pain. The seeker had dug his claws into the metal.

Whimpering Skywarp managed to silence the scream threatening to erupt from his vocalizer.

The other clearly frowned when the only thing he got was the whimper, and not the whole pained expression he had expected.

Shrugging the seeker just dug further into the metal, and before long pierced the delicate metal covering the underside of the wings.

That caused Skywarp to not be able to withhold the scream leaving his vocalizer. He began to trash in the unforgiving hold the other had him in, while his cooling fans clicked on due to the rising stress and lacking amount of air breathed into his frame.

The torture continued for some time. How long he didn’t know. But luckily his dominant coding did not rise. If it had the dominant would have just killed him instead of playing with him.

As his mind began to fade, the whole ordeal too much to his stressed and strained systems as more and more warnings entered his vision warning about overheating, extensive damages to his wings, damage to various other structures and clogging energon lines where the other held him around the neck, he faintly recognized the blue frame coming at them.

Then he blanked out, his processor and CPU not able to stay online anymore.

Thundercracker was furious.

He had left his creation trine to find Skywarp.

When he had found the seeker, the smile that had been on his faceplate had turned into one of anger.

There at the rim of the gathering Skywarp was in the embrace of another seeker. The black and red dominant was petting the black wings.

The sight had enraged the Winglord. Had Skywarp played him?

But when he came closer he heard the whimpers coming from the black and purple seeker; the seeker not having any more energy to scream the pain out.

Hearing the pained sound Thundercracker had acted instantly, ripping the red and black seeker from Skywarp by its wings.

The dominant had uttered a furious growl, clearly displeased by being disrupted in his doings. Well if the dominant wanted to play that game Thundercracker gladly would participate, berserker rage entering his mind at the thought of what this seeker had done to HIS trinemate.

Out of the corner he watched Skywarp slump down the tree into a heap on the ground, and the sight enraged him further, it was clear that this seeker had damaged the “nothing” severely.

Zeroing in on the black and red seeker in his grasp he silenced the other with a vicious jerk to the wings. Usually the seekers left the wings out of their fights, but at the moment the wings had been the closest of the seeker Thundercracker had reached, and when he saw what damage the seeker had caused to Skywarp, he didn’t care of the norms.

The black and purple seeker was littered with open wounds, energon seeping from his chassis, throat and wings. The wings was worst of, deep gashes following the length of the delicate metal, even the tips had not been spared, the metal had been bend in on itself and was only holding together due to the hardened metal covering the topside of the wing. The wounds told of the great pain Skywarp had been put through.

Confusion leaving the black and red seeker he recognized the Winglord finally and the aggression slowly bleed out of the dominant.

/Winglord./ he began, not understanding why the blue seeker was so enraged.

He was silenced by another jerk of his wings, the seeker wincing at the stinging pain from the wing struts.  
Growling Thundercracker released the other with force and watched the black and red seeker stumble.

/I challenge you!/ he growled at the dominant backing away to make space for the coming fight. Around him seekers that had watched the initial act from the Winglord moved to give the combatants the needed space to fight.

Even the Winglord’s creation trine had been summoned. How Thundercracker didn’t know, but he guessed someone had alerted them to the brewing troubles.

Currently his carrier was by his trinemate. The only seeker he would let near the damaged seeker. In the distance he watched the other two seekers of the trine intently studying him. A faint smirk was plastered on his creator’s faceplates.

That fact almost caused him to reboot. When had he last seen an emotion enter the black and grey clan leader’s faceplate, surely not for a long time?

The black and red seeker looked at the Winglord incredulous.

/Why?/ the dominant asked. Not able to perceive why the Winglord was challenging him suddenly.

To Thundercracker’s surprise it was ‘Swiftstrike’ that answered the question before he could himself.

/Hurting a submissive seeker belonging to another dominant, gives the offended dominant the right to challenge the offender./ the black and grey seeker told in pleased tones.

Continuing he said: 

/And when the victim is the Winglord own trinemate, the penalty is a fight to the death./ ‘Swiftstrike’ enjoyed the surprised gasps from the seekers around them.

Shaking his head Thundercracker ignored the pleased voice of his creator. The slagger had never liked his pursuit of the nothing, but sure liked to be center of attention.

Instead he focused his attention on the black and red seeker that stared at him in incredulity as shocked as the rest of the seekers that their Winglord had taken a “nothing” as trinemate.

When the last part registered the red wings drooped to the lowest setting able for any seeker. A fight to the death was not rare, it happened now and then, and the result wasn’t always given, but this fight was as uneven as almost possible. The Winglord was who he where because he was the strongest among them.

As he watched the other realize his mistake, Thundercracker felt a sickening satisfaction as he watched the other take on a defensive stance. There was no backing down from this fight.

One last glance at Skywarp still not online, being force fed by his carrier from the blue and yellow seekers own energon lines he returned to look at the black and red seeker with narrowed optics.

Thundercracker would only be satisfied when the other lay deactivated by his thrusters. Then he would fed Skywarp the others energon. The weak seeker needed the fuel and soon. It was only fair that the assailant returned the energon he had drawn out of his victim instead of the Winglord’s carrier weakening himself to help the black and purple seeker.  
The next moment he charged the black and red dominant, swiping his claws across the red wings and causing a large gash to open.

The black and red seeker winced at the wound, and drew back from the advancing blue seeker. He tried without success to parry the Winglord’s attacks with his servos, staying on the defense as Thundercracker rained attacks on his frame.

The dominant was truly a pathetic sight; not at all fighting for his right to live like the most dominants would when faced with such a challenge. 

That was why when only several breems had passed Thundercracker had managed to weaken the other enough to cause the black and red seeker to stagger in his defenses, leaking his life fluid from countless wounds littering his frame and wings.

With the stagger Thundercracker managed to apply a deadly wound to the others chestplates, going deep into the others internals. Just like with Skywarp he was going for the main energon line, and with the open chest wound he had access to what he wanted.

With force he dug his claws into the wound while not caring if the seeker was in great pain as he searched the wound for the large fuel line.

Finding the essential fuel line he tightened his grip viciously around it and watched the seeker struggle and whimper at the pain caused by the restrained line, energy slowly leaving the seeker as his vital systems no longer got the needed fuel.

Then with the rage bleeding from his optics Thundercracker yanked the energon line, severing it from the frame, and a klik later the blue seeker was covered in the purple liquid splashing his frame.

He let the fluid flow until there no longer was any sign of life in the other; the spark extinguished and the frame greying. Then he closed off the line and carried the dead seeker to where his trinemate lay in his own energon. The wounds had begun to seal themselves, but the deep and large ones still seeped with energon.

Crouching by Skywarp and his carrier he touched the open wound on his carrier’s wrist and let him know that he could stop. Then he forced the severed main energon line of the dead seeker to Skywarp’s mouth and let the fuel flow down the seekers intakes.

Sure that his trinemate had got enough fuel to survive the loss he had suffered the Winglord gently lifted the prone frame and carried Skywarp back to his clan’s area. It would take time for the seeker to heal and regain consciousness.

The official announcement of the black and purple seeker would have to wait until the seeker came online and healed enough to carry himself.

o o o

It took the black and purple seeker a whole orn to come online and fuel on his own. It took longer for the smile to emerge on his faceplates, and a bit longer for the seeker to joke. But Thundercracker was sure that if Skywarp could make fun he would survive. And even if the Winglord didn’t understand much of his trinemates fun he accepted it.

As he left the relaxing teleporter, Thundercracker smiled at the event that would happen later.

Skywarp was strong enough for them to make the fact that they were trined official.

Rejoining his creation trine at their location he enjoyed the fact that everything seemed to go as they should, with a few obstacles in the way, such as a very unruly trinemate.

As he was about to leave the three older seekers, surprisingly ‘Swiftstrike’ voiced a question that put the blue seeker off.

/Are you going to take him as a mate too?/ the black and grey seeker had asked, a genuine smile on his face. It seemed his creator had mellowed to the fact that Skywarp was his creations trinemate, and that he could do nothing about it.

The question had stunned the Winglord.

That had not been something he had thought about. But was something that they could discuss later, after all Skywarp was not healed enough to deal with that part.

Blushing the blue seeker had left the three seekers to rejoin his trinemate.

Good spirited laughter had followed his leave, and he had with a smile left with high held wings.

Skywarp had greeted him when he saw his trinemate come at him, and had stood to show that he clearly was better.

With a smile Thundercracker had caressed the black wings.

/Are you ready?/ he asked.

/Yeah./ Skywarp said, eager to continue.

/Then let’s show them./ the smile widening at the eagerness in the black and purple wings to be airborne again. Skywarp had been grounded too long for his liking.

Like one the two seekers transformed at shot into the air, speeds increasing rapidly as they ascended into the sky.

The synchronized trine flight as traditional as the trine challenge was a stunning view for the onlookers. They way two seekers was able to fly so close together and initiate complicated maneuvers without crashing into each other was a spectacular sight, even for the seekers used to the sight every returning gathering or on occasion at their clan.

o o o

Megatron was fascinated by the show the two seekers showed in the air and looked at the sight with stunned expression.

As the seekers landed a cycle later the Lord High Protector packed down his little camp and left the area, returning to Iacon.

No matter what happened in the future with the Prime, he was certain of one thing.

He had his army waiting for him.


	10. Chapter 10

Several vorns later:

Iacon, tower of the Lord High Protector:  
Time passed by among the seekers and the grounders occupying the metal planet of Cybertron, and while the seekers flourished in their care for the nature of the planet the grounder’s society slowly began to feel the strain of low resources.

As time went even the autobots began to suffer from the lack of energon, all while the Senate thrived in their luxury life at the top of the society.

The Prime had failed, and failed greatly.

It wasn’t that the Prime didn’t fight for values that were just like the Lord High Protector’s own. No, Optimus valued the common transformers just as much as Megatron, he had after all been one himself, and knew of the hard life most of their people lived to survive.

No, the Prime argued valiantly together with the Lord High Protector to get the Senate to see what was happening to their society, to the people not at the top.

But the Prime was too good. He didn’t push the senators as far as Megatron wanted, to get their suggestions through, instead the Prime tended to falter when the debate turned into a contest of screaming among the senators to belittle the young mech.

Megatron with his long experience at the Senate just closed off his audios to the sounds when the senators belittled the grey mech, or tried to. He had learned to just ignore the petty mechs sitting there in all their might.

Compared to the Lord High Protector, the Prime was no more than a sparkling thrown at the ominous senators that was more like the seekers when it came to argument, than autobots. It was no wonder the Prime shied away, going into himself at the belittling he was faced with when he tried to push for something.

The Prime was too young, too inexperienced, and simply too good.

And they didn’t have time for the Prime to get the needed experience, the energon crisis had escalated over the last few vorns, and where it before only were the decepticons, the lowest in the society that felt the strain, the autobots now began to feel it too. It spoke volumes of the suffering their people went through on every orn basis.

They needed to do something. He needed to do something.

At the moment he was in his private quarters sitting on his berth.

In his servo he held the simple device he had gotten from the scientist those many vorns ago. The device would secure the seekers aid in his plans. 

Desperate measures required desperate actions, and he had known that this situation would occur, when had only been the question.

And he was ready to force the willingness on the seekers to reach his goal.  
From the door Soundwave entered the quarters. The blue mech walked to his location and just stood waiting for the Lord High Protector to address him.

“Are we doing the right thing Soundwave?” he asked the silent mech. He needed to be sure that his actions weren’t only fuelled by his own desire. He had learned his lessons from the senators who only desired more and more power. With the action he was planning he would hold the largest army of the planet in his servos, and the power to do as he pleased, if he wanted to. With a swipe of his servo he could have the Senate eradicated a cycle later, all his problems gone.

“Situation: dire. Transformers deactivating in the streets. Energon levels dwindled drastically.” The mech droned, leaving out the formality in the private quarters.

“Yes, I have seen that myself.” Megatron still shivered at the thought of the mech he had seen a few stellar cycles ago deactivate before him. The mech had convulsed, spark energy flaring out of his frame seeking any substance possible for it to feed on. Everything it had touched had been scorched. The worst was the high-pitched yowl of pain coming from the being that no longer resembled that of a transformer. It had been a relief when the being finally silenced, the remains no more than greying molten metal on the ground. It had been scarring as the pit to watch.

“You are right, we have to do this. For all our sakes.” He didn’t do this for his own well-being. If he was able to avoid anyone sharing the fate of THAT mech, his deeds was not made of selfish reasons. Of course the seekers would not have a say in if they wanted to have anything to do with his plans, he was going to force their wills.

“Locate the blue seeker for me Soundwave, and his black and purple friend.” With that Megatron dismissed the other from his quarters. He had preparations to do.

o o o

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay:  
Four vorns had passed since they had found the seeker out in the forest and had had the seekerling birthed into their hands.

In the time that had passed the seekerling had grown, quadrupling its size. It now completely filled their servo when they carried it. The time had also caused its frame to harden into its final denseness and coloration. All while the spark no longer could be seen.

Instead the seekerling had attained a beautiful mesh of colors. White, blue and red adored the little frame.

And a new addition that the medic hadn’t expected had grown from the little ones rear.

A tail.

It had grown to a length where the appendage was able to curl completely around the neck of the medic. The seekerling tended to use the part to what looked like steadying itself when it sat on the shoulder of the medic or tracker.

It sure was a strange occurrence to experience.

What was stranger to the medic was the fact that the wings was yet to grow in any way. The frame of the seekerling had grown steadily, but the wings had remained the same as when it emerged from its carrier. That caused the seekerling to look quite awkward, and he feared that he was missing something in its fuel.  
But despite of that the seekerling seemed completely healthy.

Right now it was with him in the med bay, Hound was on duty at the temple and the little being had lodged itself onto the medic as Ratchet had moved towards the medbay. It still depended a lot on them, and didn’t want to be left alone, not that Ratchet intently would do that.

The few times he had forgotten to take it with him the seekerling had entered a minor panic, and he learned to have it with him when Hound wasn’t there.

At the moment the little one had been placed on a berth not far from him, while he with his back to it cleaned some tools that he would need later that orn.

It had turned into a routine for the medic to now and then keep an optic at the little one; he had not forgotten the episode with the energon treats when they had just gotten the seeker inside their home.

An unfamiliar sound drew him out of his thoughts and as he turned he just saw the last part of the seekerling transform.

Its first transformation!

Ratchet was stunned. It looked completely like the mature seekers. A miniature tetrajet hovered a bit above the berth he had placed the seekerling on. As he watched, the wings began to tremble and then with a bump it was down on the berth. A moment later the seekerling returned to bipedal mode.

He almost laughed at the confused look in its optics. It seemed it didn’t know what had happened.

Running a scan he detected nothing unusual from earlier scans. He guessed that seekers were a lot ahead of the cybertronians living in a harsher environment.

He felt relief in the fact that it seemed its development continued however strange it was to see the seekerling enter into its altmode this early in its growth. And the tail seemed to be completely natural, vanishing into the jet mode.

He would have to see if he could get an image capture of the transformation, if the seeker did it again, for Hound to see. It seemed like it took a great deal of energy at the seekerlings current stage of growth, and it might not do it again for some time.

And he would have to secure the rooms, in case it began to truly fly. Open windows would be alluring to a seekerling who had just entered flight.

What Ratchet didn’t know was that when a seekerling first transformed, it entered a new stage in its development. The transformation marked a huge change in the seeker.

First and foremost the seekerling got new urges and needs. It had come to the stage where its growth no longer could be sustained by liquid fuel alone, it would need to hunt to get the needed metals to help it grow in size and develop its wings. And if the adopted creators didn’t find the needed materials it would be in a stage where it soon would be able to do so by itself, the reliance on others becoming minimal in the time to come.

Another large change would be its processor and CPU. The new stage required new programs to handle transformation sequence, self-diagnostics, self-repair, internal weapons and various other functions that either needed programs to activate or to monitor. That change also would cause the seekerling to become more sentient, the mind no longer relying on the primal communications of a seekerling with the programs requiring a mind able to run the complicated programs the changes required, and thus it entered the stage of a seekerlet. 

And while the tail seemed odd on the little being, it served a certain purpose. Ratchet was right that it steadied the seekerlet when it was placed at their shoulders, but that was not the only purpose. As it grew in size, the growth would not be symmetrical and parts of the seekerlet would grow faster than the other, and some even more irregular. One wing would grow a bit while the other remained its size, and without the tail to stabilize it the seekerlet would not be able to transform and fly properly. The tail would support the side lacking the extra mass and enable the seekerlet to stay leveled in the air.

When the seekerlet would have developed its wings fully the tail would be absorbed into the frame and used to form other essential parts at that stage of its growth. The coding had not yet been decided at this stage, it would first settle later. The seekers weren’t born with certainty what coding the newborn seeker would hold, that was why seekers like Skywarp could occur, some malfunction in the development could cause the seeker to gain parts from both the submissive and dominant coding and the result would be that either one or the other would be the dominant in the seeker, but with the coding able to shift and with it the frame of mind.

In the case of Skywarp the initial coding was that of a submissive and the seeker had developed carrier protocols, enabling the seeker to give life to the next generation of seekers. Had he been of dominant coding initially he would not be able to carry, the coding for the dominants and the frame different, lacking the needed means to secure the growing life inside him.

What the seekerlet would turn out to was therefore still unknown to the adopted creators, if they even had known how their little one would develop in time.

The new changes would reveal themselves to Ratchet and Hound in the time to come, especially the need for metals to grow from would manifest soon after the first transformation.

How the two autobots would handle the wilder nature of the seekerlet that soon would show was still to be seen. The last four vorns had lulled them into a nice routine with a healthy little darling of a seekerling that was more cute than dangerous. Had they forgot where it came from?

o o o

Forest in the southern hemisphere:  
Skywarp was hiding from him. Thundercracker knew it.

He had not seen his trinemate in several orns.

The teleporter had been practically glued to his frame these last four vorns, for suddenly one orn to not show up for their regular hunt together.

When he had searched the clan to locate the black and purple seeker he had been greeted with no sight of the familiar plates. Even his creation trine didn’t know where the seeker had vanished off to.

Skywarp had taken a great liking to Thundercrackers creators when he was this far away from his own. The “nothing” had been adopted into the blue seekers clan at their trine bonding.

The submissive seekers always joined the clan of the dominant. The dominant seekers were not greeted with open servos in the other clans, the larger and stronger seekers being the physical defense of each clan. To have a warrior originating from another clan to go freely inside another clan’s territory was enough to get any dominant seeker to flare its wings at the threat.

Of course any clan would have taken great pleasure in housing the Winglord, but Thundercracker had to remain as neutral in the matters of the clan’s and only stayed where he were because it was the clan he was borne into and held the presence of his creators. Not that it influenced how he acted around his creator when clan matters rose. ‘Swiftstrike’ had always kept a distance to his creation, like he had known what would happen when the seeker grew into his final strength, able to overthrow the former Winglord. 

So it was a puzzled Thundercracker that left the area his creation trine held as their private area in the clan area.

Where was his trinemate?

Skywarp was in great pain.

The convulsions kept returning, rattling his frame and causing the seeker to stumble.

He had been grounded the last orn, his ability to fly taken from him by his frames strange way of acting. He was after all not stupid enough to take to the air when the convulsions would cause him to crash.

He didn’t know why he had left the clan. But something had compelled him to leave the presence of any seekers.

He was confused, both by his frame acting up and his different coding’s sending contrary messages to him. His submissive coding wanted him to return to the clan, to Thundercracker and get help. But his dominant part strongly fought against that. He did NOT want the Winglord near him in his current state. And the coding was ready to fight anything coming close to him. He wanted to be left alone.

Sometimes one side won, and he began to travel back to the clan, for a few cycles later to be overtaken by the other and begin to travel away from the clan once again. Not surprisingly he didn’t advance much beyond his current area, the confusion just growing and growing.

And he was hungry. And starved. But he was not let any chance to hunt and refuel.

Finally he collapsed where he were, lying in the underbrush of the forest as his systems slowly cycled down to conserve what was left of his energy. 

Too mock him a petro rabbit came from its hiding to sniff at him. A growl from the seeker scarred the little thing away and he was left to his pained convulsions that kept coming now and then.

With a whimper he thought about his trinemate. How he wished Thundercracker would be there with him. Take away the pain and care for him. For once both his coding’s agreed, the dominant part knowing well enough that he needed help and for once accepting it, if it ever came.

‘Thundercracker, please come and help me…’ he tried to send down the connection he had with the other seeker. They were only synced so far, and not sharing an actual bond. But he was still able to send faint sensations to the other.

He didn’t know if his weakened attempt to reach the other had succeeded and entered a stasis-like state that would give the other more time to find him, before the black and purple seeker would die from lack of energy.

It would also save him from feeling the reoccurring convulsions and the pain.

As he went into stasis his systems slowed down as much as only the weak pulsing of his spark would be sensed and the very faint sounding whirling of his fans was heard.

Several miles away Thundercracker was jostled by a dreadful sense in his spark.

The part that was Skywarp among every essence of his people had begun to fade. Never before had he sensed something like it. Most seekers went out instantly when they were deactivated, either by the grounders, or by other seekers in disputes.

But the feeling he had now alerted him to his trinemates ominous fate if he was not found, and the Winglord stormed to find his creator.

As he got sight of his creators he almost stumbled when he no longer could feel Skywarps spark. It still had to dislodge from his own spark to signal that the seeker was dead, but that didn’t happen. Instead he felt a numbness that was where the black and purple seekers essence had been.

His carrier had seen his stumble and came towards him concern filling the optics.

/Dear?/ he heard the blue and yellow seeker ask him. But for once he disregarded the seeker and hurried to get to his creator.

As he was greeted by the grey and black clan leader he had to quell the pain surfacing at the thought of losing his trinemate before he was able to address his creator.

/I need your help, clan leader ‘Swiftstrike’./ he gasped, sticking to the formality. His creator held to the traditions and rules strictly.

But a creator will bend rules when pain is obvious in his beloved creations, and the grey and black seeker crouched down to the blue seeker that had gone to his knees in great pain.

/Thundercracker, what is it? Is it Skywarp?/ he asked.

As Thundercracker just nodded, the clan leader shared a worried look with the carrier and the next moment he was on his thrusters, his optics back into their usual hardness.

He let out a crude shrieking sound.

A moment later every dominant seeker was before the clan leader and listening.

No one spared the Winglord a glance. Even if some might have enjoyed seeing the blue seeker in the dirt like he was at the moment, every sign of superiority devoid in the sight of the slumped seeker.

‘Swiftstrike’ deployed their seekers to search for the missing seeker, spreading their forces wide and far, hoping that the seeker wasn’t too far away.

He knew that the seeker would be within their territory or he would have received something from the other clans. And with the seeker being trinemate to the Winglord it caused no seeker to dare to damage him. The fight with the unfortunate black and red seeker before Skywarps official announcement had shown everyone what would happen if they messed with what belonged to the Winglord.

/Find him!/ he yelled at the seekers leaving, before returning to his creation.

/I can’t sense him./ the blue seeker whimpered, curling into a ball.

The carrier was sitting by his frame gently stroking the vibrating wings.

/Shhhh. He will be fine. We will find him. Just calm down./ the melodious voice cooed.

/I don’t even know why he left./ he whispered before the action of his carrier lulled him into recharge.

A cycle passed and the seekers didn’t return with any news. The absence of the seeker began to grow on the seekers in the clan, well aware that if they didn’t find the seeker, their Winglord would be crazy.

Even if the two seekers weren’t bonded like mates and sparkmates would be, fusing their spark with the others, the forming of trines made the seekers share some part of them with the other. Skywarp had gained some of the calm that Thundercracker held a large amount of, while also gaining some of the strength from the blue seeker, while Thundercracker had become more relaxed and open to his people. It showed in how he had begun to act with his creator. Before the two had not been able to be close to the other without growling and anger rising. Now the seeker was seeking his creator’s help and freely showing his own shortcoming while not feeling embarrassed at it.

All in all, the trine worked by enhancing the members’ strength in frame and mind. And a full formed trine would have been able to survive the loss of one of the members, but incomplete as they still were Thundercracker would suffer from the loss, if Skywarp died.

Sharing a look with the carrier ‘Swiftstrike’ nodded to the blue and yellow seeker. They shared a bond, enabling them to communicate unspoken.

The clan leader transformed the next klik and blew off into the distance in the direction of the territory the ‘Quick strike’ clan held this time.

‘Swift flight’ was shocked when he received news that the clan leader of the leading clan had entered their territory.

Clan leaders rarely journeyed to the other clans, and only in dire times did that happen. The fact that he had one coming at the moment caused his tank to sink.

As the grey and black seeker half a cycle later landed in the middle of the clan’s living area, unfazed by being faced with several battle ready dominants, spoke loud about the other’s confidence.

Instead of sparing the seekers circling him a glance, the seeker turned towards the red and yellow clan leader and to ‘Swift flight’s shock bowed his head slightly before walking closer to him.

/I need your assistance. Skywarp is missing and my clan has not been able to locate him yet. Thundercracker is greatly affected, and I feel that something bad has happened to him./ the grey and black seeker explained.

At that a black and green seeker emerged from the group standing around them.

/My little Warper is missing?/ the seeker asked, optics large and worried.

The two clan leaders regarded the seeker before them. The submissive didn’t become deterred by the quite hostile look on the grey and black seeker, while the red and yellow clan leader seemed uncomfortable.

A moment later a dominant came up behind the black and green seeker, gently nuzzling the wings, and trying to get the seeker with him. After some time in succeeded.

Once more undisturbed the leaders began to converse and they decided that the ‘Quick strike’ clan would have free movement inside the other clan’s territory until the missing seeker was found. Skywarp was one of theirs and even if he was a “nothing” he had become important in the optics of their Winglord. That was enough for everyone to care for the seeker. 

Cycles later with the assistance of the other clan’s seekers they finally found the black and purple seeker. At that point Skywarp had begun to grey at the edges of his wings, the time becoming critical for the dying seeker. When he was brought back to his distressed trinemate he had begun to come out of the stasis he had put himself into, and which had saved him from deactivating. On the way there he had been force fed by several of the other seekers. It seemed it was becoming a necessity when it came to the unruly seeker to take it to the extremes.

Half a cycle later he opened his optics and a little smile crept into his face at the sight of Thundercracker’s worried face not far away from his own.

/Sorry. Messed coding. Sorry to worry you./ he whispered, trying to get one of his servos to react to reach for that adorable face before him.

/Why did you leave in the first place Skywarp?/ Thundercracker asked serious.

/I-. I don’t know. Coding demanded. Felt strange. Then pain and convulsions. I don’t know what happened?/ he murmured.

/It sound to me you had your first heat./ the blue and yellow carrier came up behind them where they lay, the teleporter firmly protected in the blue seekers embrace.

/If you don’t satisfy the need for mating that your frame is telling you need, you will be in great pain. Being the first cause it all to be stronger. Why didn’t you seek Thundercracker? It would have solved it all./ the seeker smiled.

/But now it is gone? And I didn’t do anything?/ the black and purple seeker asked confused.

/Being that close to dying mess up your systems Skywarp. Be ready for it to return soon./ the other warned.

Meanwhile Thundercracker had paled. He still remembered the last time he had dealt with the heat suffering seeker thrown before him. What if Skywarp would hate him like that one had done? Would be looking at him with the same accusing optics? He would not be able to handle that kind of hostility from his own trinemate.

Unconsciously he slumped in on himself, the wings drooping low on his back.

Why did it all have to be this complicated? He thought.

Sensing his ire the carrier tried to calm his worry.

/It will be okay, dear./

But Thundercracker knew it wouldn’t.


	11. Chapter 11

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay:  
A dozen of orns had gone by since the seekerlets first transformation, and nothing new had happened in the following time.

Ratchet however had received news from the Science Academy that he was to get a medic in training to educate. That had left the two autobots arguing what to do with the seekerlet. No one knew of the existence of the little being. They had both been protective, knowing how the general opinions of the seekers were.

Now they had to let a stranger into their little family and try to protect their secret.

Hound had suggested that he could just take the seekerlet with him out in the wilderness while the medic in training was around, but Ratchet had countered that, by the fact that the new mech would be staying with them, living under the same roof as themselves and would not be leaving.  
You could not plan everything regarding medicine.

That was why they finally had decided to gauge the mech first, before they would introduce him to the seekerlet.

Currently Ratchet had the young medic with him inside the medbay.

Firstaid was the designation the white and red medic in training had the presented himself with.

What Hound had seen of him, he already liked the medic in training, and was sure that the seekerlet would too. The question was whether Firstaid could handle having a presumed wild transformer roaming around him while working.

On the shoulder of the tracker the seekerlet studied the door into the medbay intensely. It was like it sensed that something important was going on and tried to will the doors to disappear.

“Relax.” Hound told the little being.

The intense optics turned to look at the green mech, and the seekerlet crocked its head to the side, studying Hound.

Returning to the door it let out what unmistakable sounded like an impatient sound.

Sure that Ratchet would take some more time before they would be ready to introduce the medic in training to the seekerlet, Hound decided to take a walk outside.

The walk was not as easy as usual anymore, with the seekerlet growing like it had. Where he before just needed to curl his servo around it to shield it from bypassing transformers, he now actually had to be wary of his surroundings. He was still able to hide the seekerlet, but now he had to use both his servos and be sure not to curl them too tight around the seekerlet.

One time he had by accident managed to get the little wild tail stuck between his digits. No wonder the seekerlet had screeched as it had. And he had had to have Ratchet to release the tail from one of his joints where it had lodged itself. Since then he had become aware of where the tail was at any moment.

When they first reached the outskirts of the city state, he would be able to release the seekerlet from his protective servos and let the wind caress it. He had noticed lately that it studied the surroundings more intently and vibrated its wings more than it used to. It was clear to him that it was developing more than just growing in size.

Noticing that the seekerlet was looking at a spot in the distance as intensely as it had looked at the door into the medbay, Hound adjusted his optics to see what had the seekerlet so enthralled.

What he saw confused him.

It was looking at a pair of sparklings playing.

The sparklings was only a bit larger than the seekerlet was at the moment and was running around, chasing each other on wobbling pedes.

What Hound didn’t see, but the seekerlet clearly saw was the little tame petro rabbit running at the small delicate pedes of the sparklings.

As it studied the animal the seekerlet unconsciously flexed its claws and leaned forward at the servo Hound currently held it in.

The movements caused Hound to fear that the seekerlet would trip from his servo and he curled his digits, shielding the sight of the rabbit from the seekerlet.

Annoyed the seekerlet jumped around and finally made it to the shoulder where its tail leisurely curled around the trackers neck, while it once more returned its focus on its prey.

Hound still unknown to the hunt he soon would witness just relaxed and enjoyed the sight of the sky. He talked a bit to the seekerlet, and now and then he got a little chip or trill.

Then the seekerlet became silent, and before Hound knew it, the little being was in the air, and he was witness to the second transformation the seekerlet had done.

Awed by how every part of the seekerlet formed and bended into the little tetrajet, he expected the aerial mode to not stay airborne as Ratchet had told it had happened in the medbay. But this time, as he swiftly tried to get his servos under the tetrajet, the seekerlet shoot into the air, gaining altitude.

The tracker could only stay and look after the tetrajet becoming smaller and smaller. Fear filled his spark at the sight. What he sensed from the bond they had with it was joy and determination.

Then he heard screaming.

The sparklings he had studied was running inside the building close by while screaming and pointing to something in the air.

Hound got a feeling he knew what it was they were pointing at.

Oh this was bad.

And he still didn’t understand why the seekerlet had taken off.  
Letting out a trill he tried to coax the seekerlet back to him, but a breem passed and he saw nothing of it.

Then as he was about to comm. Ratchet to tell the bad news, he saw a horrified sight coming at him.

Sure it was the seekerlet, and it had him relieved. But what was in its claws made his energon run cold.

Landing perfectly content the seekerlet found its spot on the trackers shoulder, holding the bleeding corpse of the petro rabbit between its claws and talons. And it was ripping into it with joy, the crushing of metal sounding loud into his audio.

Trying to remove the mess from his frame he was greeted with a vicious growl and the seekerlet actually snapped at his digits. Each attempt to remove the dead rabbit caused the seekerlet to retaliate against the intruding digits. The act was clear. That was the seekerlets prey; he could go find his own.

As he gave up and began the trip back to the medbay he didn’t dare to take the seekerlet away from his shoulder, and it made it clear that it stayed there by curling the tail around his neck. He wasn’t sure if he actually felt the extra tightening to the cables in his neck or if it was his imagination.

The seekerlet finished its feeding on the rabbit just as they got the medbay in their sight, and the remaining parts were carelessly dumped from the autobots frame. It landed on the road with a sickening splat and Hound valiantly suppressed the urge to turn and look.

He just wanted to get inside, and get a bath.

Surprisingly the seekerlet was almost completely clean; how that was possible Hound didn’t understand.

As they entered the front door the door into the medbay opened and Ratchet greeted their return. The medic saw the distraught look on the tracker and wondered what had the normally calm mech that distressed. Then he saw the seekerlet at the shoulder and the fluids dripping down from said shoulder.

He hurried to the tracker and looked them both over before Hound halted his progress.

“Don’t. No one is hurt. None of us at least.” Hound told, his voice sounding strained and weak.

Ratchet took the Seekerlet from Hound and as he lifted the little being it purred contently. It was sated; its needs met and for once it had no urges demanding anything.

Inside the medbay, where Ratchet had left him, Firstaid took his time to study the place he would be working the next many vorns until he would be skilled enough to get his own medbay. The conversation with the medic had been interesting, and Firstaid was intrigued by the specialization Ratchet had made into working with processors and CPU’s. That was some of the most delicate working beyond spark surgery. And not many had taken the time to look into the field. It was tedious work and required certain skills. That Ratchet was a renowned medic on the field spoke a lot of the medic he was going to tutor under.

A loud outburst outside the medbay made Firstaid curious, and he felt he had spent enough time at the moment looking around in his new surroundings and went towards the door to see what was going on.

As he went through the door he saw the shocked look on the medic.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked, turning his optics from the medic to the green mech beside Ratchet.  
Then he saw the dripping fluids and his medical code made him take several steps towards the tracker before a servo held up stopped him.

Hound looking disgusted at the dripping substance shook his head, telling the medic that he was okay, that it was nothing.

Confused Firstaid turned to Ratchet who seemed to have frozen on the spot, his servos cradled into a ball.

“Sir, are you okay?” he asked.

That seemed to wake the medic from where his mind had been and looking at the other he put on a smile. A smile that Firstaid was didn’t reach the optics.

“Oh, everything is okay. We have one last thing to do before we are done.” At that Ratchet uncurled his servos and Firstaid could finally see the seekerlet resting content in the servo.

“Is that? Am I seeing right?” the medic in training asked, looking closer at the seekerlet.

The act calmed the adopted creators. It seemed Firstaid might be able to handle the seekerlet.

“Yes. It is a seeker. We have had it for four vorns now.” Ratchet told, seeing the questions building up in the others mind. He understood. He would have been intrigued himself if it was he who was presented with such a rare occurrence it was to see a seeker this close.

“Fascinating.” Firstaid exclaimed.

As the seekerlet sensed the hot breath that Firstaid breathed on its wings, it wriggled the little appendages and opened one optic to see what was causing the disruption in the air.

Then with a squawk it reeled in the servo, the stranger being too close.

Getting to Ratchets shoulder it lodged the tail around his neck and threateningly flared its wings while baring its dentas.

It silenced anything that any of the three autobots would have said. The adopted creators had never seen this act before. To Firstaid the sight of the posture felt threatening enough, but what really made his tank churn in discomfort was the look in the seekers optics.

Even with the seeker being that small he felt the danger at being looked at like that. Like it calculated how it could deactivate him. The intenseness in the optics made it clear to the medic in training, that this seeker was not just some none sentient being. And it scared him.

Ratchet didn’t know what he had expected from the seekerlet, but this reaction had never entered his mind. The seekerlet had never threatened him or Hound.

Reasoning a bit he decided that he shouldn’t have been so surprised with what Hound had explained that the seekerlet had done on their trip outside.

That it suddenly had turned aggressive against the tracker and had begun to hunt for its own food had shocked the medic. And with the new aggressiveness continuing Ratchet felt trouble brewing. He had completely accepted the seekerlet and had formed their little family. If the little one became more and more wild, it would not be possible for them to keep it.

He felt a slight pain at the thought. He had grown so used to the little being that he could not imagine a life without it. But had he thought it all through?

The seekerlet would continue to grow, and at a point they would have a mature seeker in their care. A seeker that was wilder and more aggressive than any in its surroundings. The medic could foresee large amounts of spilled energon and damaged cybertronians if they made the wrong decision by keeping it and not manage to somehow tame it. No civilize it was a more proper word he decided.

But could they do it?

Was it even possible?

Hound could see the troubles rising in the medic’s optics. He himself had had an optic opener when the seekerlet had brought the rabbit back and had protected its prey so fiercely.

To this point their adopted creation had never acted aggressively against anyone. Now it showed its true colors. And the fact that they cared for a wild being had never been clearer to the tracker. He had forgotten how the seekers could be, with the seekerlet so compliant and none threatening.

He sighed.

They might have to release it back into its true home.

o o o

Forest in the southern hemisphere:

Skywarp woke with a pained groan.

What was going on with him? He had recharged peacefully beside Thundercracker before a pain in his frame had jerked him from his recharge.

A moment later the pain happened again.

‘NO!’ he thought. The familiar convulsions soon following the pain.

The heat had come back. Time had gone by, and a dozen of orns had passed. He had thought the warning the carrier had told him through and had waited for the pain and convulsions to return. But they hadn’t. Not before now.

Beside him Thundercracker turned in his sleep, the large wings on instinct following the roll before the Winglord again settled, this time the large blue wings covering his black and purple trinemate.

The scent of the dominant this close did some funny things to Skywarps spark, and he tried to shy away, careful to not wake the blue seeker.

His coding was once again compelling him to leave the closeness of the Winglord.

Somewhere else in the camp of the clan, Thundercrackers creators were playing host to the clan leader of the ‘Quick flight’ clan. Since their united effort to locate the flighty black and purple seeker, the two clan leaders had had several meetings. Some of the seekers from the other clan still lingered and some had even found together with seekers from the resident clan. Their come together had turned to be fruitful and the leaders enjoyed how their clans were coming together.

/Has anything happened between the two?/ ‘Swift flight’ asked.

To that a smile crept into the face of the other clan leader. /No. Leave it to Skywarp to make a mess of something this normal./ ‘Swiftstrike’ proclaimed.

To that the clan leaders soon entered a humorous laugh.

‘Swift flight’ had had plenty of tales about the black and purple “nothing” to let the other get a nice insight in how the seeker thought and acted in situations.

/And Thundercracker? I understand he has some knowledge?/ the yellow and red clan leader asked.

At that the black and grey seeker looked to his mate.

/Forced to mate is not experience./ the carrier explained, some hardness bleeding into the seekers optics. The anguish that had consumed the Winglord after the experience had taken time for the carrier to defuse, and the later knowledge that the “nothing” had deactivated without any sign of the seekerling had caused even more distress in the blue seeker.

Thundercracker had only been forced to mate with the heat suffering seeker because of a petty action made by the “nothing”’s clan leader. No dominant had followed the group that delivered the seeker before the Winglord. There had only been submissives and no other dominants to avoid the Winglord to enter his rut the instant he came close enough to the suffering seeker.

The carrier had fallen upon the clan leader with vengeance when he found out that no dominant had been in the vicinity when the “nothing” had been presented to Thundercracker.

If another dominant had been present it would have stalled the rise of the rut in both of the present dominants. Their coding demanded to mate when presented with a seeker in heat, but if there were threats in the area, like another dominant, the rise of the rut would be negated. By letting Thundercracker be the only dominant when the heat suffering seeker was shown, the clan leader had practically lured the Winglord into a trap that he could not escape.

The carrier had challenged the clan leader in his rage, and ‘Swiftstrike’ had been the one to fight the other clan leader. He understood why the blue and yellow seeker had acted like he had, but still was dissatisfied by his mate’s actions. The result of the challenge had been ‘Swiftstrike’ coming out of it as the victor, the other clan leader left in a pile of mangled parts, but still online.

That had been the only gesture the creator had done for his creation in all Thundercrackers time alive, and it had only been due to the carrier’s recklessness.  
The carrier had shown a new side of his being. Everyone was used to the blue and yellow seeker to be helpful, nonviolent and friendly towards all, but that time had truly enraged him to a degree where nothing would save the other clan leader from the wrath of a creator.

Now ‘Swift flight’ saw a shed of that part of the carrier rise in the blue and yellow seekers optics, and he swiftly looked away. It was uncommon for a submissive to cause a dominant to feel this threatened but the carrier managed that without much effort.

/I hope that his first time with Skywarp will console and mend the remaining fear he feels./ The carrier explained, his optics sweeping the camp.

Everything was calm, most of the seekers rested at the moment and silence roamed the air of the camp.

Then a feeling crept into the blue and yellow seekers spark, and he narrowed his optics. His wings perked up, sensors alert.

The act caused the two dominants to flare their own wings, ready in case of any threat.

After some time the carrier lowered his wings, and they fanned relaxed on his back, sending soothing signals to the others.

/Don’t worry. It is nothing. Excuse me I have something to do./ with that the carrier rose and left the area and the two dominants. ‘Swiftstrike’ knowing his mate, knew that more was going on than the seeker let on, but accepted the wish for the other to be discreet. Instead of following his mate he instead returned and resumed the joyous banter they had had.

Skywarp had managed to crawl out from the wide blue wings without alerting his trinemate of his leave, and was moving towards the rim of the camp. If he transformed inside the camp everyone would be alerted to his leave.

As he reached the beginning of the tight forest surrounding them some of the tension that had been in his frame left him and his stance was more relaxed.

Then he heard the sound of thrusters coming his way and he panicked firing his thrusters and attempted to flee the area.

/SKYWARP!/ he heard shouted at him and his thrusters stalled in their advance, he dumped to the ground in an undignified pile.

Looking towards the camp he saw the blue and yellow carrier stomp his way towards where he lay.

Caught.

He gulped as he saw the other advance in on him, and expected to be beaten for his antics.

Instead the carrier crouched down beside him and looked him close into the optics. As the pain and convulsions once more occurred he heard the other sigh.

The carrier had just been confirmed in his suspicions.

::Swift, please get Thundercracker and come to me with him. Don’t leave when you have done so.:: the carrier send to his mate.

::He tried again?:: was the only reply. It was clearly who he meant.  
::Yes.:: the carrier shot back while shaking his head slightly.

/Why Skywarp?/ he turned to the black and purple seeker.

The teleporter looked down at the question and didn’t respond.

/Shy. It is going to be okay./ the blue and yellow seeker gathered the younger in his embrace, hoping to calm the other.

/I. I’m scared./ finally left Skywarps vocalizer.

/Nothing to be afraid of dear. It is all normal./ the carrier consoled.

The pain and convulsions was completely normal. The pain signaled that a part of the submissives spark had dislodged itself from the main spark. The convulsions following the pain were the sign that the spark fragment was travelling down a tube that connected the sparkchamber with the gestation chamber, where the sparking would occur when the spark fragment met the transfluids of the dominant seeker. Then the spark would return to the sparkchamber and connect with the mature spark and feed from it.

The fact that Skywarp felt continuous pains and convulsions was because the spark fragments would be reabsorbed into his frame if they weren’t fused with transfluids within a certain timeframe, and the spark would continue releasing fragments until a sparking had occurred in the seeker.

Only a joining between the Winglord and his trinemate would make the process stop.

Noises drew both submissives attention to the camp and Skywarp let out a suffering whimper at the sight of the advancing dominants. The sight was far from comforting, and deep down his own dominant coding stirred.

Thundercracker had been awoken by his creator. When he had looked around he had found the place devoid of his trinemate, and dread filled his spark. Had Skywarp gone missing again?

A look to his creator revealed nothing; the clan leader was completely neutral in his expression. As Thundercracker had woken completely his creator had rose from his crouched position beside the Winglord and had gestured for Thundercracker to follow him.

Now they were walking towards the rim of the camp and Thundercracker wondered what had happened.

Then he saw Skywarp in his carriers embrace and fear overtook the feeling of dread in his spark.

His memory core mercilessly replayed his experience with the “nothing” and he froze in his advance towards the two submissives.

The carrier seeing his trepidation rose and made it clear for Skywarp to stay down. Beside the Winglord the clan leader waited calmly. This was delicate for his creation. That much he knew and he let the carrier take the lead.

As the carrier reached the two dominants, Thundercracker got a wind of Skywarps special aroma the seeker produced to lure its mate to it while affected by the heat, coming from the frame of his carrier where the blue and yellow seeker had touched the teleporter. And he could not avoid the pleased growl leaving his vocalizer.

The scent awoke a fire in his spark and his processor became devoid of any fear he previously had had. This part of the mating had not happened with the other “nothing” simply because that one had not been connected to Thundercracker in any way. With Skywarp, the black and purple seeker was HIS.

Skywarp seeing the change in his trinemates stance and the fire suddenly entering the optics didn’t like what was happening, and tried to get up from his place on the ground.

The movement turned Thundercrackers focus toward his heat suffering trinemate and he began to advance in on the other seeker, followed closely by his creators.

As long as ‘Swiftstrike’ was there, the actions would be controllable and the four of them would even be able to leave the area to let the two youngsters have some more privacy if the need arose.

The more Skywarp tried to get up and failed the more he spread his scent in the air, and Thundercracker’s olfactory sensors greedily took in everything Skywarp expelled to the air as the seeker advance on the shaking frame on the ground.

Finally Skywarp just curled into a ball on the ground, trying to protect himself from what his dominant coding told him was bad as the pain and convulsions still rattled his frame.

A suffering whimper from the seeker caused the carrier to let ‘Swiftstrike’ hold back Thundercracker as he walked to the trembling frame.

Uncurling the seeker slowly the carrier gave Skywarp a reassuring smile.

/It is going to be fine. Don’t worry. We are here. Nothing bad is going to happen./ the carrier soothed. However the fear never left Skywarps optics.

::I’m going to help him up. It might be better to lead them to some more privacy.:: the carrier send to the clan leader.

::Thundercracker will need something to calm him on the way. As far as he is gone at the moment he can turn violently.:: the dominant warned his mate.

A knowing smile entered the face of the carrier.

::Oh, hon. Don’t worry about that. We have the best remedy with us to defuse that violence.:: the carrier send while laughing through their bond.

If just Skywarp would realize what power he held over the most powerful seeker sparked.

Helping Skywarp to his thrusters the carrier explained to the teleporter that they would need him to be prepared for a short flight.

Meeting the yellow optics filled with knowledge that he himself lacked Skywarp glanced at his trinemate out of the corner. Then he nodded and the carrier made a gesture that signaled that Skywarp could take off when he was ready.  
Shaking some of the convulsions from his frame he reverted into his altmode. Unseen not far away Thundercracker by reflex did the same, and as the black and purple seeker blasted into the air the Winglord followed.

The two older seekers hurried to follow the departing pair, the carrier aiming to support Skywarp in his flight when the convulsions would destabilize his flight, while the clan leader stayed close to Thundercracker.

‘Swiftstrike’ recalled the words he had uttered earlier about Skywarp and the seeker making what was normal into a mess. If it had been anyone else entering their first heat, they would have been past the first few problems that could occur now. But nothing was easy when it came to these two seekers.

Shortly later he followed his creation down to the ground again as Skywarp landed not far away. Once more the black and purple seeker convulsed in heavy shakes and Thundercracker walked towards the suffering seeker with determination, the large thrusters shaking the ground and the massive frame collapsing several trees on his way to his trinemate.

As Skywarp found himself trapped beneath the intense stare of his large blue Winglord as the teleporter came out of the last convulsion, he was not able to look away from the smoldering optics locked into his own.

His wings began to tremble, and he felt any will to flee leaving him.

A strange calm began to settle in his core and he let Thundercracker receive a considerate amount of his scent by unconsciously fanning his wings and spread the scent around him while he drew the scent of Thundercracker in.

As the black and purple seeker let out a content purr the carrier slowly left the area, going to his mate, and the two of them let the two young seekers get some more space. They didn’t leave instantly, since that would cause Thundercracker to instantly enter his rut, and even as enthralled Skywarp was at the moment, the sight of his trinemate entering the rut in one go and the at times brutal mating could be too much for the earlier scared seeker.

Skywarp would need the time for his frame to react properly and be ready for what would happen when the heat and rut peaked.

As the Winglords wings slowly rose to their highest setting on Thundercrackers back Skywarp reverted his optics to the large appendages that stood taut out from the back of the blue seeker. In response his own wings rose from the position low on his back, the default setting for any submissive. Now they rose to the highest setting just as the blue seekers had. In any other circumstance the act would have been seen as a threat, but in this case it was a sign to the dominant that the submissive showed clear interest in mating.

As the submissives wings reached their highest point Thundercrackers began to vibrate. The act was a sign to any dominants in the area that the submissive now was his mate, and that any dominant crossing the two would risk deactivation at the servo of the Winglord.

Now the older seekers retreated further away, ‘Swiftstrike’ clearly recognizing and feeling the threat issued. He was not interested in challenging his own creation on Thundercrackers own trinemate after having spent time much time to get them this far.

::I think they can be left on their own soon.:: the carrier interrupted the clan leaders focus.

Looking down at the seeker in his embrace ‘Swiftstrike’ nodded. He was not eager to watch his creation mate.

A laugh sounded over their bond, showing that the carrier had sensed his reluctance to spy on his own creation. Seekers as general were not bashful and enjoyed attention from their own kin. But with so much else being creators sometimes changed their behavior.

Crushed undergrowth alerted the pair to the fact that Thundercracker had closed the last distance between him and Skywarp and as they looked at the blue and black seeker they saw Skywarp reach a trembling servo towards the large wings of his mate.

A hiss was released from the Winglord as Skywarp touched the plating. The plating would be almost scorching to the touch with the time Thundercracker had been in his pre rut phase.

Once more Skywarp looked up into the captivating optics of his mate, while keeping his servo on the blue plating, slowly caressing. It caused Thundercracker to release several pleased sounds.

Then with fierceness Thundercracker dragged the black and purple seeker taut against his plating, the two seekers connecting from thruster to helm.

A whimper escaped Skywarp, but was soon exchanged with sounds of pleasure as Thundercracker bared his neck cables and nibbled at the sensitive wires revealed to him.

::Let’s leave them.:: ‘Swiftstrike’ told his mate, but the carrier shook his head.

::First when Skywarp has opened himself completely. I want to be sure everything is going right.:: the carrier argued.

A dissatisfied sound left the clan leader, but he didn’t argue further.

As Thundercracker mercilessly rained ministrations on the black and purple frame he elegantly caused Skywarp to take steps back, all while Skywarp didn’t realize what was happening, consumed by the sensations coursing through his frame.

The black frame hitting a tree Thundercracker pushed his own frame into his mate, applying pressure that send tingling sensations into both their frames.

The tree not able to handle the pressure flattened and their frames feel to the ground, Skywarp taking the brunt of the force at the fall, but not caring.

Panting heavily he gasped for air as Thundercracker restrained one of the larger energon lines in his neck between dentas and pushed down on the fuel line, stopping the flow. Baring more of his neck to the blue seeker, revealing more of his sensitive wires to his mate Skywarp showed his eagerness for the Winglord to continue his actions.

A satisfied growl left Thundercracker, and he released the energon line, resuming his nibbling for some time.

During the nibbling Thundercracker began to grind his frame slowly into his mate prone under his larger frame, eliciting needy whimpers from the black and purple seeker.

Skywarps servos retreated from the wings of the Winglord to apply touches to the rest of the blue frame, mapping out seams and joints causing Thundercracker to voice his own pleasure, while he still focused on the black and purple seekers neck cables.

::Soon, dear.:: the carrier consoled, sensing the dominants discomfort at the sight before them. Thundercracker and Skywarp completely consumed by their lust forgetting they weren’t alone.

A forceful grind of the two frames caused both of the seekers to voice their pleasure loudly, a strained groan leaving the blue seeker, while Skywarp moaned and wrapped his legs around the frame pinning him down.

The legs forced their interface panels together and the grind against the highly sensitive parts caused two things to happen.

First Thundercracker buckled at the sensation to his heated highly sensitive plating, causing the two panels to grind further together.

Secondly, Skywarp no longer could keep himself together at the feeling and his cover protecting his valve released baring his most intimate part for the world to see and for his mate to gain access to.

As the grind continued he smeared the lubricant pooling from the valve on the protective cover still hiding Thundercrackers spike.

::NOW:: ‘Swiftstrike’ growled, hauling his mate with him away from the sight.

A sigh left the carrier. He would have enjoyed watching his creation complete his first true mating. Making no argument this time the two older seekers left the two younger to complete the rest of the mating in privacy.

As ‘Swiftstrike’ left the area the threat assessment changed and Thundercracker relaxed completely into his mate, the spike releasing finally.

Without any warning the Winglord impaled his mate and sheathed himself to the hilt in one movement, causing Skywarp to let out a whimper of pain as his valve was stretched.

Thundercracker however didn’t stop in his movements to let the submissive adjust to his intrusion. Instead he withdrew himself for to instantly slam into the black and purple seeker with force. Skywarp let out a distorted sound of pain, tinged with the sensations of pleasure filling his core.

As the valve adjusted to the spike the pained sounds warped into sounds of pleasure and soon the black and purple seeker was thrusting up against the blue seekers own thrusts into his frame. Two sets of wings vibrated in unison as the seekers copulated and when the Winglords first overload hit a roar left his vocalizer together with a low charged sonic boom releasing from his frame as he lost the control.

The weapon release rattled both their frames, but did no damage, and as Thundercracker forced the last amount of transfluids released from his spike into his mate, he resumed his deep thrusts into Skywarp, the rut keeping him going.  
The next overload triggered not long after the first, filling the valve to the brim.

As the gestation chamber slowly was filled with the Winglords coding the excess amount of the silvery fluids dripped out of the valve splashing the joined frames in its sticky substance. Not that they noticed, the heat still not sated and the rut still in effect Thundercracker kept thrusting into his mate.

The final overload once again triggered Thundercrackers ability, this time enough to rattle the trees to release leafs that rained down on the joined frames. Slowly Thundercracker cycled down as Skywarp stopped shivering, and the scent of the heat slowly left the black and purple seekers frame.

The heat had been sated. Skywarp was carrying.

Not daring to look at his trinemate, Thundercracker rose from their position on the ground and turned his back to Skywarp.

He had done it again. Anguish filled his spark.

He waited for Skywarp to accuse him for what he had done, when the seeker realized what had happened.

Slowly the blue wings descended to the lowest position possible.

Behind him Skywarp was still lost in the haze that had taken him over during the heat and the closeness to Thundercracker.

Lying sprawled on his back quite undignified, with his thighs still parted and his valve there for all to see Skywarp just relaxed and slowly came back to himself.

As his processor cleared more and more he registered the absence of pain and convulsions in his frame, and he abruptly rose to sitting position when he didn’t sense Thundercracker beside him. Franticly looking around he saw the slumped form of the Winglord some distance away.

He frowned at the lowered wings and the miserable stance.

‘What was wrong?’ he wondered.

/Thundercracker?/ he silently asked, trying to get any response from the Winglord.

He got none.

Thundercracker was so consumed in his own pity that he didn’t recognize the concern filling the black and purple seekers voice as he said his name, or the worry overtaking the optics of his mate when he didn’t react.

Rising to his thrusters and finding his legs strangely gooey, Skywarp relied on several trees as he made his way towards his mate. Reaching the Winglord, the black and purple seeker reached out one of his servos and gently caressed a wingtip.

That jolted Thundercracker out of his thoughts and as he turned towards the offender he was optics to optic with the very seeker he didn’t dare to look at.

But to his surprise the look in the others optics was not of anger, but worry.

/Why are you not angry?/ he asked, stupefied. He could not phantom why Skywarp didn’t show any hostility.

Crocking his head, gauging his blue mate, Skywarp wondered what was going on that he knew nothing about.

/Why should I be angry? It should be you being angry for me trying to leave./ the black and purple seeker answered puzzled.

Closing in on the blue seeker Skywarp let out a satisfied purr. Beyond some soreness in his frame he felt good. And he could feel the weight in his gestation chamber, still filled with Thundercrackers coding. In his spark chamber a warm feeling was nesting.

A puzzled look entered Thundercrackers expression at the closeness Skywarp demanded of him. Unable to deny the other the closeness he wrapped the black and purple seeker in his strong arms. Sensing his mate this close and not angry made some of the tension bleed out of his frame, and when he sensed the tingle added to his spark, he could not avoid the smile growing on his face.

They had sparked a little new seeker.

When Skywarps strength left him Thundercracker scooped the seeker in his arms and made the trip back to the camp. They would both need rest after all this.

And he would have to thank his creators. His carrier had been right. Everything would be all right.

o o o

Iacon, tower of the Lord High Protector.

Soundwave had not been able to locate the two seekers yet.

Something had caused the population of seekers in the area the two resided to grow and move unnatural. It had been too dangerous for anyone to venture out there with the seekers this unpredictable.

Now it seemed what had caused all the movements slowly had solved, and lesser and lesser seekers filled the area, making it possible for the telepath to dispatch his cassettes to locate the seekers.

Megatron was not happy with the stalling, but understood the clear facts. If he was to get the two seekers alone he needed for them to be unaware that they were being hunted.

With time Soundwave would have located them, and would follow them in their patterns.

When the seekers least expected it they would strike.


	12. Chapter 12

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay:  
A few orns had gone by since the awful introduction between the seekerlet and Firstaid. The seekerlet simply didn’t trust the newcomer and acted aggressive whenever the medic in training was around.

The aggression had gone from only being threats to at a point becoming physical, where the seekerlet had flung itself at the mech when Firstaid went to Ratchet to ask a question, and came too close to the medic. First it had just hissed in anger, when the two autobots had ignored it, caught in their work, it had gone to flaring its wings to get the medic in training to back off. Of course Firstaid had not done so, and before any of them knew it, the seekerlet was airborne and aimed for the mech.

When Ratchet succeeded in removing the seekerlet and get it out of the medbay Firstaid had suffered countless scratches and wounds in his face. The little beings claws and talons were extremely sharp and easily pierced the delicate metal in the face. The rest of that orn the medic had cared for the other, disinfecting the wounds and apologizing.

Firstaid tried to shrug the experience off. At least he had learned some about healing delicate facial wounds. But uneasiness filled his spark. How was he going to survive his tutoring with that bestial thing around?

The last drop in the cup was when a new development occurred in the seekerlet.

The internal weapons became available to it.

The two medics had looked at the seekerlet, who for once was completely calm in the closeness of the new medic, when sounds were coming from the little being.

Seeing two strange devices rise from the small shoulders on the seekerlet they had shared a puzzled look with each other.

Their thoughts were disrupted as one of the devices let out a red streak of color which collided with some of Ratchets tools. They fell clanging to the floor.

Another color left the other device and this one hit one of the monitors in the medbay, crackling energy traveling all over the monitor as the blast hit, then the monitor shut completely down. They had not managed to get it to work again.

Ratchet had run to the seekerlet then and had blocked the openings of the devices while he ran out of the medbay with the little thing.

Later Firstaid had had to repair the digits that had blocked the weapons. One had been singed as much so the inner wiring almost was bared, while the other was unresponsive. 

Ratchet had cursed and later when Hound joined them to refuel there had been complete silence in the room. The seekerlet was nowhere to be seen.

“So. Eh, what do you think it fired with?” he asked. The silence was suffocating, and sadly the only topic he had to come up with was what had happened.

Ratchet and Hound looked at him, seemingly gone in their own thoughts, and then Ratchet sighed nodding to him.

“I guess the red one was a laser. Luckily for my digit it wasn’t as potent as I guess the mature seekers’ lasers are, but enough to hurt.” The medic grimaced. He had to recalculate his threat assessment for when the seeker matured in their care. With those weapons, more than just spilled energon and wounded cybertronians would happen. Someone would deactivate.

“The other seems to be some kind of nullification blast. As you saw it fried the monitor completely. And my digit still suffers from the close contact with the nozzle of the weapon.” Again he feared that the reason for only the digit to suffer was the fact that the seekerlet was so young, and didn’t have energy reserves to properly fire up under the intensity of the blast.

He shuddered and saw the same thoughts mirrored in Hounds optics.

They could not keep it. Not with how it all developed. The dangers to the surroundings were too great.

Ratchet had placed it in the berth room under sedation and it would stay like that until they decided what to do.

o o o

Forest in the southern hemisphere:

The closeness between the Winglord and his mate had grown since their first mating. Before Skywarp had preferred to keep some distance now and then, and it had not been unusual for the seekers in the clan to see the black and purple seeker fly out on a hunt alone.

Now however the pair was glued to each other.

And it was not just the carrying seeker that had changed his behavior. Thundercracker had become overly protective of his mate. If Skywarp was out of his sight at any point the surrounding seekers had to flee the area to avoid getting swiped by the Winglords large wings when Thundercracker sought to find his mate.

So it was a relief for the seekers in the clan when Thundercracker, with Skywarp in tow left the clan area to travel to the other clans to gather the needed reports on how their prey fared. It was nearing the point where they would have to swap the south with the north.

Shielded in the shadows a small figure followed the pair on their travel and reported the findings back to its master in Iacon.

Following them from clan to clan Laserbeak kept up with the seekers who were flying lazily while enjoying each other’s company, unaware of the stalker.

When they reached the clan furthest away from the leading clan the little cassette received new orders.

Somewhere in the forest Megatron had planned to ambush the two seekers when they passed by. His knowledge of the seekers had leaded him to a certain spot he knew they liked to fly pass when moving from one clan to the other.

The area didn’t look like much. But some of the large structures there caused the winds to blow different, and the seekers seemed to have a joy sensing the wilder winds against their frames. This made the perfect spot to surprise the seekers. They would be filled with anticipation and not as aware of their surroundings as they used to.

They just needed Laserbeak to report when the two seekers flew back from the last clan.

In the meantime with the seekers’ movements and Megatrons plans, Ratchet and Hound had finally decided to release the seekerlet from their care. The little being had clearly showed that it would be able to survive on its own and the adopted creators were not able to come up with sound excuses to keep the seekerlet any further with the development that had gone by.

It was with sadness that the two autobots left Iacon to travel to the forests. Inside Ratchet the seekerlet was safely tugged in, heavily sedated. They would leave it deep in the forest and when the sedation faded from its systems the two autobots would be gone, hopefully safely home in Iacon, continuing their life.

Unaware of the large amount of ground bound transformers traveling the forest Thundercracker had reached the last clan. What information he had received from the clans so far had told of a healthy population of prey still living in the forests they currently lived in. The need to move his people to the north was not as urgent as expected.

Relaxed he returned to Skywarp who leisurely enjoyed the company of the clan leader’s submissives fawning his frame. A smile crept onto his face as he watched the two submissives eagerly cleaning and polishing the black and purple seeker until he shone. Never before had Skywarp experienced this treatment, only seen it happen to other high ranking seekers in their society. The act also occurred in the trines among the submissives towards each other and between the untrined submissives. But Skywarp had always been an outcast before now and no one had come close to him.

The Winglords presence stopped their movements and they silently awaited any orders from the blue seeker as Thundercracker studied the sated look in his mate. The Winglord knew how Skywarp felt at the moment and the look in the yellow optics raised a need in him to claim his mate. A growl left him. Not a threat but deep enough for the other two seekers to leave them.

Stepping closer to the seeker lying on the ground completely relaxed and looking up at him with those shining optics Thundercracker crouched down beside the black and purple seeker.

They had not joined since the heat left Skywarp, and they didn’t need to. But it was not rare for the dominants to now and then claim their submissives outside the heat and rut that forced them to mate. Those would not result in any sparking of the submissives, missing the spark fragment released during the heat in the submissives frame.

With tenderness not showed during their mating Thundercracker slowly fanned his claws along the wide black wings of his mate, carefully grinding in circling movements just like the two submissives had done when they petted and polished his mate. The action would cause Skywarps internal temperature to rise and the tingling sensations would fill his whole frame to finally settle in his spark.

Thundercrackers spike was ready to enter his mate pressing to be released behind its cover, but instinct told Thundercracker that his mate wasn’t ready for him yet. The valve not lubricated yet.

When the wetness filled the valve the scent in the air would not go unnoticed, even behind the closed cover.

A satisfied purr left the teleporter and the wobbling servos of his mate reached towards the Winglords own wings to apply touches.

Unable to reach them in the current position Thundercracker pinned his mate with his larger frame, and if Skywarp found the weight of the other seeker, weighting more than the double of his own, uncomfortable he didn’t show it. Finally able to reach the wings he wanted he began the same grinding and circling movements Thundercracker had done to his own.

As Skywarp with a certain look of mischief drew one of the blue wingtips closer, bending the wing as much as it could Thundercracker just enjoyed the feeling. But then the black and purple seeker showed his intent by streaking his glossa over the highly sensitive area of the wing, sending shudders down the Winglords whole frame. Before Thundercracker managed to come to his senses Skywarp had applied his lips to the tip and sucked.

Violent movements ensued grinding the blue and black frames into each other hard enough for the paint to transfer. The movements caused them to let out twin sounds of pleasure and Skywarp felt his valve slowly beginning to lubricate.

As the scent registered in the dominant the olfactory sensors drew in the smell of his mate becoming ready for him and he began to grind their panels together. The spike pressed even more behind the cover and the feeling was becoming suffering. The grinding movements applied to the cover eased the feeling and caused Skywarp to lubricate more behind his own cover.

As he kept grinding, thrusting his frame against the smaller under him, more and more needy whimpers left Skywarps vocalizer and before long the teleporter was thrusting against the blue frame, following the movements.

Releasing the bended blue wing Skywarp began to explore the frame above him with his claws, digging them into every seam and joint they discovered on the large blue frame. A particular sensitive seam caused the blue frame to shudder and the grinding motion stopped as the Winglord let out a groan mixed with pain and pleasure.

A snick sounded and Skywarp felt Thundercrackers spike release against his own still closed cover. Shaking in his whole frame the teleporter tentatively tried to move under the pinning frame, grinding into the spike and a needy moan left him as the motion caused the spike to push onto the cover of his valve.

A sound reminiscing that of a laugh left Thundercrackers vocalizer at the needy sound his mate elicited. If Skywarp wanted him that bad the teleporter just had to release his cover. Looking down into his mate’s optics he saw them filled with the deep need their frames showed.

Thrusting against the closed cover deliberately Thundercracker forced another moan from his mate and Skywarp let his helm fall to the side, baring his neck cables. Taking the invitation the Winglord let his lips and glossa play with the delicate wires bared. A tightening movement against his frame from the black and purple seeker raised his brows. Baring his neck even more Skywarp let out a faint growl.

Optics narrowing Thundercracker let out a growl of his own and bared his dentas against the fragile wiring. At the gesture from the dominant Skywarp let out a moan and when the Winglord went for his energon line in the neck a pleasurable purr left the vocalizer.

As Thundercracker forced pressure on the fuel line he sensed something wet against his spike and the strong smell of lubricants filled his olfactory. Skywarp had released his cover as Thundercracker bit down on the energon line.

As the spike rubbed against the bared outer nodes of the valve spasms coursed through the black frame and Skywarp began to rub back wanting more of his nodes stimulated.

Not one to deny his mate, Thundercracker slid his spike into the welcoming valve. Instead of plugging into it to the hilt, he gently forced his member inside the valve, sensing every node he touched on the way inside his mate. As he hilted himself Skywarp elicited a purr as he felt the spike rub against one of the deepest nodes in the valve.

Finally releasing the fuel line between his dentas Thundercracker looked into the optics of the seeker beneath him and enjoyed the feeling of his mate warm and welcome around him.

He only remembered little from their mating, the rut ruthlessly controlling the dominant and making sure that the seeker was able to go on until the submissive ended up sparked. Now he had nothing controlling his needs and urges and could relish in the intensive feeling of his mate.

In the distance the stalker hid, while recording the actions between the two seekers. At the site of the ambush a pleased smile had entered Megatrons expression. The closeness between the two seekers was what he had based his plan on and seeing how close they were reassured him that the plan would succeed.

Thundercracker began to move out of Skywarp, gently retreating from the heat inside the black and purple seeker, for to push forward and enjoy the sounds of pleasure coming from his mate as he entered him again. He was gentle, no urges compelling him to do otherwise. Where the rut demanded and left him stripped of whom he was down to the most basic of the dominant coding in his frame, he let the feelings towards the other control this joining.

As the movement of the spike continued Skywarp shivered under him, the feeling of every sensor node in the valve being stimulated wracking through his frame and left him unable to do anything but take what his mate gave him. His venting became shallow and he began panting dragging the much needed air into him to cool his internals, keeping them from overheating while Thundercracker mercilessly continued.

As Thundercracker kept going Skywarp began to sense a strange feeling settling in his midsection. A feeling he had never experienced before, and that hadn’t occurred during their mating.

As Thundercracker after some thrusts into the black and purple seeker entered deeper than before Skywarps frame went rigid and then completely stiff, powerful sensations filling his whole mind as the wave of energy released as he overloaded tore through every part of the black and purple seekers frame. Skywarp let out a strangled whimper at the feelings and Thundercracker groaned at the forceful constrictions made to his spike still moving inside the other seeker.

Clinging to the Winglord as Thundercracker continued his thrusts after the overload that had rattled his frame, Skywarp whimpered at the spike forcing his clamped valve to widen again. The feeling was uncomfortable at the beginning, but at Thundercracker carried on the valve lining relaxed and the sensation before his overload began to build once more.

Soon moaning in abandon Skywarp began to thrust against his mate entering his valve and the energy continued to build once more.  
When the next overload hit the black and purple seeker Thundercracker was no longer able to hold back and as the valve once more clamped down on his spike, the feeling caused his own overload to trigger. Filling his mate with his scalding hot transfluids a third overload occurred in the black and purple seeker as the fluids stimulated all his deepest nods simultaneously and the sensation was more than the frame could handle.

Groaning as he finished emptying his load of fluids inside Skywarp, Thundercracker looked down to see how his mate fared. What greeted him was the pleased sight of his mate firmly in recharge. The three overloads had been too much for the smaller seeker. Being his first experience overloading Skywarp had been drained of all energy and his frame had simply shut down to conserve what was left.

Withdrawing his spike from the recharging form he gently settled beside his mate and protectively held the black and purple seeker against his frame. They had no rush in returning to their own clan.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Infant death last in this chapter. Beware.

Staraxis the leader of the Highsky clan watched with a pleased expression Thundercracker as the Winglord walked back to his mate. And when his submissives shortly after returned he sensed smugness in their sparks bleeding into his own through their bond.

As his trinemates saw him watching, they swayed lazily as they walked towards him, their frames heated and the scent of lubricants filling the air around them. Draping themselves over his larger frame he got the faint scent of the Winglords mate coming from their plating.

A growl left his vocalizer as the two purred and drew him back towards their own resting area.

/Had a pleased conversation?/ one of them asked as they began to preen his frame.

Relaxing his wings and enjoying their pampering he relented and allowed them access to his whole frame.

A humming left his vocalizer as they began to touch and grind his wings.

/Yes. Thundercracker is wise. I see the fear we had when he rose to Winglord is shamed./ the dominant admitted. Staraxis had been one of those against the then young blue seeker to take the position of Winglord and had been among the group of older seekers challenging the seeker.

They had lost, and only the unwillingness in the younger to rid their people of some of the oldest and wisest seekers had saved the losing seekers’ lives. Already then Thundercracker showed that he was more than just brashness and had more knowledge of what was the best for their people than they had given the younger credit for.

Their moment together was disrupted by a strangled cry some distance away. A laugh erupted from the two submissives.

/He also manages to pleasure his mate more than just a little./ one of them commented.

As another louder sound heralded Skywarps second overload with Thundercrackers as a large echo following a klik later, a dreamy expression entered the faces of the two submissives.

/He must be good. Really good./ the other exclaimed.

Not one to be outdone by the younger Winglord Staraxis rolled the nearest of his trinemates, positioning himself on top of the other.

Looking down the dominant wasted no time in restricting the seeker under him, going for the cables in the neck.

The neck of the seeker was the most vulnerable part, not covered by any sturdy plating, and having some of the larger energon lines lying free. Being this unprotected the area was highly sensitive and one of the easiest ways to dominate another seeker. Most of the ministrations done to the neck was pure play, but now and then a submissive or even a dominant needed a reminder of who was the leader and it was not uncommon to go for the seekers neck to teach the lesson.

As the submissive relented and bared more of his neck in answer to the demand from the clan leader Skywarps last overload was heard and the three seekers stiffened looking at each other in disbelief.  
Envy of the black and purple seeker rose in the submissives, and Staraxis took the challenge with determination, he was not going to be outdone by a mere youngling.

When the Winglord walked towards the clan leader’s area cycles later he was greeted by two still recharging submissives sprawled behind the clan leader.

On each of the dominants faceplates a satisfied expression bloomed. Thundercracker had woken from his recharge to the adorable sight of Skywarp snuggled close into his blue plating the lips mumbling nonsense as the black wings vibrated now and then. Without wakening his mate he had managed to rise from his position to talk with the clan leader once more before their leave. Skywarp needed all the energy he could get before their flight back to their own clan.

/I thank you for your hospitality./ the Winglord greeted.

/Oh. Your presence has been inspiring Thundercracker. We are honored to house you before your return to your own clan./ Staraxis replied, a smile on his lips.

/I will see you again in a few lunar cycles. Our leaving comes closer./ With a flick of one of his wings Thundercracker left the area to go and wake up Skywarp. They were leaving.

Skywarp didn’t want to wake up. He was in a nice recharge and at the moment he didn’t care about his surroundings. As his frame once more was jostled he let out a growl to whoever dared to disturb him and just snuggled in on himself, not opening the optics.

The touch continued and grew more and more irritating. In his drowsy state he swiped one of his clawed servos at the offender and was greeted by a loud bellow.

/SKYWARP!/

Jolted completely out of his recharge the black and purple seeker frantically looked around to identify the source. Seeing Thundercracker towering over his prone frame with optics looking at him with exasperation he just smiled. The gesture and meaning was so well-known to the blue seeker.

Whoops.

As Skywarp rose from his position on the ground and fanned his wings to get the stiffness out of them, Thundercracker got the scent of their mixed fluids from the joining cycles before, and his expression faltered. It was intoxicating and caused the Winglord to shiver as he replayed the memories from cycles earlier.

/We are returning./ Thundercracker told the other seeker as he regained his control and Skywarp made it to his thrusters.

Following the Winglord to the edge of the camp the black and purple seeker prepared to take off and follow his mate the long way home. It had been interesting for him to follow his mate on the tour around to the clans to gather information, and to see how their society flourished. Skywarp had all his existence been isolated in his own clan and didn’t know much about what happened at the gatherings or in the other clans. 

With this trip he had learned why they needed to move from north to south and the other way around now and then. The population of seekers had grown to be counted in several hundred thousand and he understood that the current forest couldn’t sustain the large number of seekers with their needed prey all the time.

He began to realize what an important position he had ended in when he accepted Thundercrackers challenge and becoming trinemate and then mate to the Winglord.

Hearing Thundercracker transforming he followed suite and soon they no longer could see the camp in the middle of the Highsky clans’ territory.

Laserbeak dutifully reported to Soundwave that the seekers was moving and followed the two departing frames from a distance.

Receiving the report from the cassette Megatron prepared the location he had chosen for the ambush. He had acquired a large group of decepticons to follow him on the mission to catch the two seekers and at the moment everyone followed the orders he gave.

He knew that what he was about to do would cost some of the people around him their lives. He had no doubt that when the blue seeker realized what was happening the seeker would enter a maddening fury. And Megatron was ready to sacrifice those present with him to gain what he wanted.

Coming closer to one of the windy canyons Skywarp slowly grew more and more giddy. This was what he liked the most when they lived in the southern part of the planet. The barren structures that caused the wind to blow so differently only existed there and he loved the feeling of the wind circling and caressing his frame from every angle at the same time. It was extremely stimulating and made him feel more alive in the air than anything else.

Thundercracker sensing the eagerness and seeing the vibrating wings on his mate while they flew closer to the canyons relented to the black and purple seekers unvoiced plea and changed their direction towards the barren area of the forest. Next time he would need to travel to the other clans Skywarp might not be able to accompany him on the trip with the seekerling growing inside him and he wanted to give his mate every joy he could before the seeker was forced to stay on the ground.

As the new life inside Skywarp formed into a seekerling and grew its frame around the spark the seeker would still be able to do as usual. But when the seekerling was fully formed and began to grow it would demand more and more energy from its carrier rendering the seeker unable to fly simply because of the major strain on Skywarps energy reserves. The last part would happen in the last phase of the carrying and keep the seeker grounded for several lunar cycles. In that time Skywarp would not do much else than conserve energy for the seekerling inside him by recharging almost constantly if not devouring the prey his trinemate would bring him.

So when the time for the seekers to move north came Thundercracker and Skywarp would not be joining the others. The black and purple seeker would be unable to fly and would resort to walk the long distance to the northern forests closely followed by his mate.

Spotting the horrid large barren structures sticking up from the forest in the distance Skywarp increased his speed and playfully swirled in the air as they got near and near their destination. Seeing the joy in his mate a happy tune left the Winglord as he caught up to the others speed and felt his own wings vibrate at the anticipated feelings he would be sensing when they came closer.

Flying over the canyons Skywarp charged into them in a steep dive and followed the long carving which nature had made into the surface of the planet. Meanwhile Thundercracker circled the area above, keeping an optic on his mate and the surroundings. Sensors on alert he sensed no dangers.

As Skywarp ascended from the depths of the canyon to meet with Thundercracker a sharp sound was heard coming from the forest down below them. Less than a klik later a violent jerk as the blast hit one of his wings and made a large wound in the plating caused the black and purple seeker to fall uncontrolled towards the ground unable to regain his control.

Thundercracker circled the area from where the shot had originated. His massive engines was roaring as he saw his mate enter the fateful course towards the ground in increasing speed and he smelled the energon leaking from the black and purple seeker. A roar of fury leaving the Winglord he dove towards his mate, knowing already that he would not be able to do anything for Skywarp to lessen the impact; he was too far away from the other.

/Thundercracker!/ came the pained screech from the black and purple seeker as the ground came closer and closer. Then with a loud crushing sound the seeker impacted with the hard surface and Thundercracker still in the air sensed the force with which the other had hit. Rising from the ground dust gathered in the air and blew wildly around. For moments his mate was completely out of his sight and he feared what would greet him when the dust finally came to rest.

What he saw however was not what he at all expected.

Grounders. Countless grounders were circling the downed seeker with weapons trained on the unmoving frame of the black and purple seeker.

Landing, transmitting the rising fury in his spark through the hit he made with the ground, he rattled the decepticons that was cornering his mate. With unrestrained fury he wasted no time in attacking.

In a flurry he was upon them like something from the pit and clawed through their armor, slicing their frames and bathed in their energon as it splattered on his own frame. Ripping them open he reveled in the sounds of screaming coming to a stop and carried on to his next victim. Moments later the area was littered with the mangled parts of the grounders that had threatened his mate and as he severed the helm of his last target from its frame and let the part fall and hit the ground with a sickening sound he turned to the still prone frame of his mate.

The fury that had driven him slowly bleed from his stance at the sight of the growing pool of energon gathering beneath the black and purple seeker.

/Skywarp?/ he tentatively asks, hoping for an answer that he know won’t come.

Walking towards the wounded seeker he gently crouches beside the black and purple frame reaching an energon dripping claw towards his mate. His spark tells him that Skywarp is still alive; the essence of his mate still lingers fatefully in the mass that is his people and the feeling of the warmth still transmitted to him from that part calms his fear. However his mate is dying, the leaking energon causing the pool to steadily grow larger and larger.

Consumed by the state of his mate the Winglord is unaware of his surroundings and does not register when another group of grounders, this one much larger than the first, slowly moves to corner them both.

Only when the sound of readying weapons registers in his mind and his threat assessment acknowledges the presence of the grounders does he see the enemy.

With wings flaring to their highest point on his back he bares his dentas and snarls at the advancing decepticons, daring them to move closer. As the grounders move closer, ignoring his warning he takes several steps forward, towards the ones in the front of him. At the movements they stop and focus their weapons on both the Winglord and Skywarp.

At the sight of weapons charged on his dying mate the Winglord becomes enraged, his mind only having one goal, to protect his mate from everything harming him. The fury from before rises once more and is joined by the pain of seeing his mate in the state he is, the two feelings intertwine and Thundercracker is no longer in control of himself. The loss soon to come enough to drive him near mad.

Attacking the ones aiming weapons on the dying seeker he once more causes screams to leave their vocalizers, but no feelings enters his mind at the sound, only the purpose of killing as much of them as he can before he himself deactivate is in his processor. His attacks however are stopped by a loud ringing blast and the sound of penetrating plating. Turning to see the source of the sound he sees the mech holding the weapon which fired. It is not pointed at the Winglord.

Instead the weapon is turned towards the lifeless frame of his mate. As a new wound begins to fill with energon the fury in the blue seeker vanishes and the wings slumps on his back. The feeling that is Skywarp slowly begins to fade in his spark, the process agonizing slow and he can’t avoid the keening leaving his vocalizer at the feeling.

This is when Megatron enters the scene, a sign from Soundwave telling him that the seeker is devoid of any further hostility. As the Lord High Protector walks towards the slumped form of the blue seeker a medic on cue from Soundwave slowly walks towards the downed black and purple seeker.

Studying the seeker up close, Megatron feels it strange to have to look up to meet the distant optics of the seeker. The fiery life he has gotten used to see gone. Looking towards the dying seeker he wonders how close the two truly are. He had not expected the dominant to withdraw as much as it obviously has from the situation.

Steeling himself, hardening his optics and stopping mere feet from the blue seeker he senses the heat rolling from the large frame. A yell from the medic crouching at the black and purple seeker seems to jolt the blue seeker out of where it was. Turning and seeing the grounder sitting beside his mate Megatron sees the optics narrowing and emotion bleeding into them once more. This close to the seeker he feels the air blow all over his frame as the seeker grunts, anger clearly rising again.

‘Its last reserves?’ He wonders.

Then the seeker lets out a deafening roar, practically into his audios and flares its wings once more. As it bares its dentas he sees the two sets of large sharp fangs the seekers use to tear and shred their prey followed by rows of the more sturdy dentas used to crush the metals.

“What a magnificent predator.” He whispers in awe.

Another roar sounds from the seeker and in the corner of his optics he sees one of the medical assistants run towards the medic holding a batch of energon to infuse in the black and purple seeker. Cursing he barks an order to Soundwave and before the blue seeker manages to spring into the attack he sees coming in its stance the prepared arrow with sedation is released by the sharpshooter hidden from view.

As the reinforced needle penetrates the seeker a furious howl is released from the Winglord while the substance is forced into its frame already pacifying it.

The highly potent sedation had been designed to be used against the seekers in case any entry into their territories ever was needed, to avoid killing the seekers if any attacks from them happened when the cybertronians entered the home of the territorial fliers. It was also illegally used by the hunters enjoying the thrill at hunting the fierce transformers.

When dealing with the seekers, every klik counted in whether the seeker managed to get a hold of you or the sedation working before that happened. There would always be a moment from when the sedation was applied to the systems before it worked. Which was why the sedation forced into the Winglord was that more potent than the average used sedation used in operations.

The instant the sedation entered the seekers systems Megatron saw the optics begin to glaze over and the wings to lower. It was clear that the seeker fought the numbness slowly taking over its frame and jerks now and then happened to the large frame. As a few kliks passed the massive legs no longer would support the heavy frame and they buckled, the ground shaking as gravity pulled on the frame. Now in optic level with the seeker the Lord High Protector reached a servo carefully towards the lost expression on the seeker and touched what no cybertronian he knew of ever had done while a spark still pulsed in the seekers frame, feeling the softness of the lips and the hardness of the dentas just behind them.

A growl left the seeker as it felt the touch but it didn’t manage to complete it before it tumbled to the ground on its side, cooling fans working frantically as the seeker’s own breath stopped when it entered the stasis the sedation had forced it into.

Kneeling beside the sedated seeker Megatron looked triumphantly at the downed seeker.

“You are finally mine.” He breathed.

Rising from his position he began to issue orders to the decepticons around him. Out of the corner he saw Soundwave come closer. The telepath would be the one to implant the control device into the Winglord.  
At Skywarp the medic had been joined by the rest of the medical team to tend to the black and purple seeker. They needed the seeker alive and Megatron had very specific plans for it. Several energon drops was filling the seeker and the medics was working on closing the leaking lines still releasing the life fluid.

At the sight of the working people around him Megatron allowed himself a smile. Everything was going as planned.

Several hundred miles away from the ambush ‘Swiftstrike’ awoke from his recharge. Something was wrong.

As his systems came online he became aware of a faint echo in his spark.

Prodding the sensation filling him, he cursed out loudly, enough to wake the two other seekers recharging beside him.

/What is it?/ the blue and yellow carrier asked.

/Thundercracker./ the clan leader explained, and if the word didn’t rouse the carrier, the way he said it did. ‘Swiftstrike’s’ voice was filled with utter sorrow.

/No. no. no. He didn’t!/ came from the other, despair filling the carrier.

/Yes. The glyphs has been activated./ he answered. With that he rose from his position and looked up into the sky.

/What happened to you?/ he asked his missing creation.

A spark shattering wail left the carriers vocalizer ringing around the whole camp.

Back at the site of the ambush Skywarp began to stir, the energon infusions had done well for his systems and they were now rousing the seeker.

As his optics onlined the seeker was greeted with the sight of grounders milling all around him, and panic filled his spark. Trying to get away he realized that he was unable to move from where he was and fear joined the panic warring in his spark. Frantic he began to search for Thundercracker, and when his optics found the blue frame of his mate, the sight caused the two feelings to increase in his spark.

A keen left his vocalizer at the sight of the Winglord suspended and prone on the ground, no life visible in the greyed optics, the only sign that Thundercracker was still alive the fact that his colors persisted.

Ignoring the surrounding grounders he called to his mate, hoping to wake him up. If Thundercracker woke he would surely be able to get them away from the grounders. Skywarp had no doubt in that.

As the beautiful melodious sounds erupted from the suspended black and purple seeker the medics were alerted to his awaken state and began to prod and poke the woken seeker to test the frames functionality.

As the finished their tests and got the results the head medic went to brief the Lord High Protector of the seekers state.

Seeing the medic come towards him Megatron left the blue seeker where he had been watching Soundwave gain access to the inner circuitry of the helm.

They had needed remove the thick plating in the back of the helm to enter its insides. It was so much different from their own build, where the frame purposely was filled with hatches to let the medics gain access if the need arose. When the access was made the easy part was completed.

To implement the little controller that would cause the seeker to do as the Lord High Protector ordered was tedious delicate work, since just a little mistake could cause the controller to not work at all, or alter or hurt the seeker. With tiny tweezers in his digits Soundwave was currently fusing needed wires from the seekers systems with the ones on the controller, completing the circuitry that would sustain the little device with energy from the seeker itself.

Vorns ago when Megatron had read the report Ratchet had formed on the device found inside the guard responsible for letting his group of hostile mechs into the temple grounds and making it possible to assassinate the Prime, the Lord High Protector had in details learned how the little controller worked with the host.

The seeker would actually not receive direct orders. Instead premade orders would be logged on the storage part of the device and would be triggered when the time for the act came. The seeker would have no chance to not obey when the order activated. When the seekers weren’t needed the controller enabled them to live as the seekers always had, not disrupting their usual actions and interactions. And even during an active order the seeker would act natural, the controller not influencing its normal ways of acting.

However some orders would be active all the time. That would be inhibitors negating the blue seekers wish to kill its new master and instead it would be compelled to protect the Lord High Protector. With this much freedom in its cage some further control was needed and that was where the black and purple mate especially was important.

Meeting up with the medic Megatron awaited his report on the seeker.

“Everything is working on the black and purple seeker. Our tests have come back positive. However there is a fact I want to discuss with you. Our scans have revealed to us that it is with newspark, not more than a dozen orns old.” The medic told while pitching his nasal ridge.

Looking at the still struggling seeker Megatron contemplated what he had been told. He knew how the seekers treated the carriers, protecting them viciously and keeping them at their camps as much as possible. It would not do with the plans he had for the seeker.

“Have you installed the collar yet?” he asked the medic.

“No Sir. We are preparing for that at the moment.” The medic explained.

“Let me know when it is done.” With that he dismissed the medic and returned to the blue seeker while he still thought the problem with the carrying seeker through.

As the medic returned to Skywarp the decepticons began to connect the collar around the seeker’s neck. Seeing the circular device the seeker let out an inquiring sound, but when they began to apply it around its neck the seeker panicked and the work took longer than expected. Not daring to sedate the carrying seeker in case it might lose the newspark the medic was patient with Skywarps antics and as time went by and the energy left the seeker they managed to fasten the collar around the neck without much troubles.

Meeting the optics full of fear, the medic gently patted the shoulder of the seeker to calm it. Then he left to address the Lord High Protector to tell that the collar had been installed.

“Sir, the collar has been installed.” The medic announced when he got the Lord High Protectors attention.

“Good. Has it been tested yet?” Megatron asked.

“No Sir. I don’t recommend it with the newspark. It might endanger it.” The medic explained.

Seemingly mulling for some time he looked at the black and purple seeker now completely prone and still. It seemed to have given up fighting.

“I want it tested.” He decided.

“But the newspark?” the medic protested.

“Is no concern of mine.” The Lord High Protector said, silencing the medic. “It is interfering with my plans. It is better we are rid of the thing.” He continued.

“I can’t disregard the health of the newspark. I won’t test it.” The medic proclaimed.

“Then you will hand over the controller to the collar!” Megatron ordered looking sternly at the medic.

Seeing the reluctance in the medic the Lord High Protector held out a servo and with narrowing optics gestured for the medic to hand it over.

With a resigned sigh the medic handed the device to the Lord High Protector, his servo trembling as he released the controller into Megatrons servo. Without looking at the Lord High Protector or wait to be dismissed he walked away, shoulders slumped.

Handing the controller to one of the decepticons nearby he went to see if Soundwave was done with his work on the blue seeker. They needed to be done soon.

As he came up beside the telepath he watched as the helm was closed and soldered shut securing the delicate inner workings of the seeker and the added device.

Done with the blue seeker he motioned for Soundwave to follow his over to the black and purple seeker. As the grounders collected around him Skywarp sensed that something was happening and he distanced himself as much from the place in his mind as he could. He faintly heard a unpleasant voice say something but ignored the milling grounders around him. It could possibly not get any worse with Thundercracker unresponsive and them both caught by the grounders.

“Activate it.” The Lord High Protector ordered the decepticon he had handed the controller of the collar to and the decepticon dutifully pushed the button.

Instantly Skywarp was filled with mind shattering agony as the highly potent energy pulsed out from the collar fitted around his neck, singeing every circuitry in his frame.

Reaching his spark the energy coursed through the connection between the mature and the developing spark. As the onslaught of energy continued the connection could no longer take it and the bond between the two sparks shattered, separating the newspark from its source of energy.

A high pitched wail echoed in the clearing as Skywarp screeched his pain out as the life inside him was severed from his spark and he lost any connection to his developing creation.

No longer receiving the life sustaining energy from the mature spark it relied on, the newspark began to fade inside the sparkchamber of the black and purple seeker.

As the newspark physically disconnected from the mature spark the pain grew too much for the seeker to handle and he was blessedly consumed by darkness entering an emergency stasis as his systems tried to protect his vital systems from further damage.

Only when they saw the frame going completely still did the Lord High Protector order the decepticon to stop the impulse.

“Perfect. It looks like you did your work excellently.” Megatron congratulated the medic.

The seeker had been fitted with the collar to control the two seekers further. If the need rose for the effect to be applied one of two settings could be activated. The first would paralyze the seeker, stopping any communication between the processor and CPU from reaching the rest of the frame, making the seeker immobile and lose any higher functions beyond the ones required to keep the seeker alive.

The other was the one tested. It sended a large amount of potent energy through the frame burning and singeing every part of the seeker, leaving it in complete agony for the time the pulses was activated.   
It was meant as a way to punish the seeker where the other was to keep it from acting out violently. 

However it also seemed perfect to terminate the newsparks that the two seekers might develop over the time, and which was very inconvenient in the Lord High Protectors plans. He could not have the two seekers wasting time nursing their creations when he was about to throw his society into civil war.

A war where the black and purple seeker would come to play a vital part.

At the praise the medic didn’t utter a word. Instead he kept silent with a certain hardness to his features in his face. This was not what he had wanted for the seeker. Every medic was sworn to care for every life they encountered, also the seekers. The newspark had not been a threat to any of them and still it had suffered. And he had helped in terminating it. The facts caused a bile taste to rise in his mouth. A glance at the prone frame of the completely innocent seeker who had moments before been a bearer of a newspark caused the medic to feel a painful twinge in his spark as if the pain the seeker had been through before it entered stasis suddenly were his own.

This wasn’t right.


	14. Chapter 14

Site of the ambush:  
When the sedation finally released its hold of the Winglord cycles had passed since the decepticons left the area. The only sign of them ever being there are the lingering scent in the air. The smell of unnaturally processed substances reeks from their frames and stays in any area they have been for a longer period.

The sedations effect on his processor slowly fading, Thundercracker makes an attempt to rise from the ground. His still sluggish frame is unable to support him and his attempt only results in the Winglord buckling as the movements doesn’t get the needed cooperation from the system controlling the motor function, when a pain in his spark freezes his systems. 

A keen leaves him as he feels a loss in his spark and his thoughts wander to his mate, dying and him unable to defend the black and purple seeker. In his mind Skywarp is long dead and the loss he feels is that of his mate.

He recalls their time together.

How the black and purple seeker stuck to him the first period when he was separated from his creators and moved to an unfamiliar clan with no seekers he knew.

How the seeker slowly mellowed the clan leader and practically became adopted by Thundercrackers carrier. The last causes Thundercracker to smile. The carrier and the teleporter shared some of the same mindset being carefree, friendly and ready to help.

At the deeper thoughts the Winglord wonders what his creators are doing. He knows ‘Swiftstrike’ has received the glyph he transmitted before he was claimed by the sedation.

Then his mind registers movements and he turns his helm up from the ground to find the source.

What he sees he isn’t able to comprehend.

Skywarp.

A healed Skywarp not far from where he himself is kneeling on the ground.

The black and purple seeker is flailing lying in a pool of dried energon, the expression one of deep pain as he fights an unseen enemy where his stasis has dragged him to.

Rising slowly, feeling that his frame is able to hold him Thundercracker slowly makes the way towards his mate.

Once more going to his knees, this time slowly beside his mate he gingerly strokes the troubled face of the black and purple seeker. Still he wonders how this is possible. How is Skywarp alive?

Then when one of the black claws connects with his chassis digging a scratch on the blue plating and scrapping the surface of the claw itself enough to draw energon Thundercracker smells it, the scent of grounders coming from the energon inside his mate. The smell causes him to let out an angry growl.

Carefully moving his own claws towards the chest of his mate to be sure their newspark hasn’t been hurt he senses nothing.

No pulsing beside the spark of his mate.

No sign of their creation.

Nothing.

A howl erupts from his vocalizer and he forcefully hugs the prone frame of his mate embracing the still struggling seeker.

This is how ‘Swiftstrike’ finds the pair some time later as the group of seekers he leads to locate the two, sweeps the area.

The group of twenty seekers from different clans watches the Winglord as he gingerly holds his mate in his embrace, and slowly rocks the black and purple seeker. As time goes by and Thundercracker doesn’t acknowledge their presence ‘Swiftstrike’ sends the rest off to patrol the air while the temporary Winglord close in on his creation. He clearly senses the scent of the grounders and a rare fear fills his spark.

/Thundercracker?/ he asks as he is close enough to touch the other.

He is ignored for some time.

Then the Winglord looks up at the other, pain and sorrow filling the optics.

/Why?/ he asks the older seeker, his voice weak.

Kneeling down beside the Winglord, ‘Swiftstrike’ lets his optics wander the prone form of Skywarp.

The skilled optics of the older seeker recognizes the signs in the black and purple seeker. Skywarp is withdrawing. His frame is functional and healthy, but his mind is giving up, having lost any wish to live on.

The only times the clan leader had seen this happen to a seeker had been from losses of trinemates or their creations.

/What happened?/ he asks Thundercracker.

/Grounders./ is the only thing the Winglord says for some time, a new anger rising inside the blue seeker.

Revenge is not something that seekers perform. They accept the losses life force upon them and live on. The occasional loss of a seeker to hunters is accepted however not ignored. If ever seekers come upon a cybertronian in the forests they kill it. That is their revenge, preying on the unsuspecting who venture their domain.

The feeling rising in Thundercracker at the moment is unnatural to the seekers’ way of living in harmony with their surroundings. To kill without the purpose of feeding is as far from their thinking as anything. But the thought is rising in his mind. To massacre the grounders surrounding them for the actions made against his mate and their newspark.

A whimper is leaving the black and purple seeker and Thundercracker tightens his hold of his mate. Bowing his head towards that of his mate to nuzzle the neck he discovers the device the grounders has fitted around Skywarps neck. Holding the seeker a bit away from his own frame he sees the outline of the collar sitting tightly around the vulnerable neck.

Growling he reaches one of his claws to touch it and tries to remove the offending device. But the metal surface withstands the applied force and not a scratch from the claws is on the collar as the claw is removed.

The Winglord hisses in anger. They dare! The grounders dared to mark HIS mate.

Baring his dentas he try to crush the metal with them, but he is not able to get the collar far enough into his mouth to be able to use the sturdy dentas used to crush metal, instead he is only able to bite around it with his fangs, and they doesn’t manage to apply the needed force to remove the collar.

A roar of fury leaves his vocalizer drawing the attention from the patrolling seekers in the air.

To sooth his creation ‘Swiftstrike’ gently reaches a servo and caresses the taut wings of the Winglord.

/Let us return to the clan. Carri is going to be relieved to see you both again. Your message distraught him a lot./ the clan leader explained.

Fuelled by the fury in his spark Thundercracker manages to rise from the ground cradling Skywarp to his chest. Their sparks this close to each other he senses the irregular pulsing of his mates spark. Now and then it stops, for some kliks later to resume the pulsing and every time it stops pulsing, he senses that the time for it to start pulsing again grows slowly longer and longer.

With a nod to his creator he engages his thrusters and takes to the air, joining the waiting seekers already in the air. As he meets the seekers he realizes that they aren’t all from his own clan. He wonders what his creator has been doing since the glyph was activated.

Adjusting his course towards their home he blasts off in the highest speed possible for him in his bipedal mode. Around him the group gathers, silently protecting their Winglord.

o o o

Location of the Swiftstrike clan:  
Landing in the middle of the camp Thundercracker is greeted by a large amount of seekers clearly relieved to see their Winglord alive.

A loud screech sounds above all the murmuring from the many seekers and the carrier runs towards the blue Winglord. Before Thundercracker know it, the blue and yellow seeker has firmly grabbed a hold of what the seeker can reach and holds him tightly. As the carrier sees what he holds in his servos he just stares. Skywarp is still caught in the stasis with his life slowly slipping away.

Dragging the Winglord to the ground as the blue and yellow seekers legs no longer can carry it, too shocked at what he sees in Skywarp, the carrier crawls closer to the pair to study the dying seeker closer.

/Has he been like this all time?/ the carrier asks, urgency in the voice.

/Yes!/ sounds the defeated reply.

/How long between the breaks in his pulsing?!/ the blue and yellow seeker asks.

/Ten of my own./ Thundercracker answers as his optics lingers on the paling frame in his servos.

At a sigh sounding much like one in relief however the Winglord jerks his optics towards his carrier while frowning.

/There is time then./ the carrier murmurs to himself as he reaches a servo towards the black and purple seeker.

Suddenly looking into the Winglords optics the carrier sees the frown and sends the other a little smile.

/I have known it for some time my dear. But I didn’t want to press you into something. Now however it is going to save your mate./ The seeker explains in a soft voice.

Not understanding Thundercracker just waits for the seeker to continue.

Looking down at the black and purple seeker, caressing the pained face the carrier continues.

/You are sparkmates. Unbonded sparkmates however, and the forging of the bond is able to stop this from progressing further if done before the spark withdraw too much./ the blue and yellow seeker explains, slowly seeing understanding entering the optics of the Winglord, together with hope.

Touching a servo to his own chestplating behind which his own spark is resting Thundercracker glances down on Skywarp. The thought of becoming even closer to his mate fills his spark with warmth.

Still lost in the thoughts of becoming closer to his mate, Thundercracker doesn’t register his carrier beginning to work with Skywarps chestplate, but when the glow from the spark of his mate shines around him, released from the protective armor plates and only covered by the sparkchamber, his optics turns to look at his mate and the very essence that is Skywarp.

The glow is fainter than a spark usually is. The reason for the spark weakening is visible when the protective sparkchamber opens and reveals the spark completely. The dead remains of the newspark is still floating around the mature spark, only a small grey part is left of what the two seekers had created together.

The sight forces a faint whimper from Thundercracker, and he gently reaches a claw into the sparkchamber and withdraws the dead newspark.

While Thundercracker is caught by the sight of his dead creation the carrier studies the black and purple seekers spark touching a claw to the surface to gauge the energy left in it. A satisfied humming leaves his vocalizer and the blue and yellow seeker looks at Thundercracker.

/You have to do it now./ the seeker tells the Winglord.

Baring his own spark, strongly shinning in a bright white color Thundercracker slowly lowers his chest to that of his mate and brings their sparks into touching.

Sensing a jolt coursing through his frame he suddenly is no more connected to it. Instead he finds himself floating.

Looking around he sees nothing. It is dark all around him.

::I can’t live on.:: a voice sounds and it takes a moment before he realizes that it is Skywarps.

Pain filling him at the sorrow in the voice of his mate he is unable to stop the words leaving him.

::Skywarp! Where are you?:: he yells out into the nothingness.

::Thundercracker? Am I finally dead?:: Skywarp whispers, and the hope in the voice almost breaks the Winglords spark.

::No of course not. Don’t leave me! Come back to me.:: he pleads to his mate.

::I-. I don’t know if I can. It hurts. Hurts so much.:: the black and purple seeker admits and his voice is barely a whisper.

::I know. I sensed it.:: he sooths.

::And I failed you. I thought you were dead. Wasn’t able to hold on to our creation. Just wanted to join you both where you were.:: Skywarp sobs.

::I am not dead Skywarp. I need you. I need you by my side when we fall upon the grounders. I won’t let them get away with this./ some of the anger bleeding into his voice.

Uttering those words the darkness around him slowly being to clear and a bright blinding light takes his place. Looking around his optics falls on the almost colorless frame of his mate firmly curled into a ball floating in the middle of all the light. He is filled with the consciousness of his mate as the black and purple seekers spark slowly fills with life again and Skywarp is released by the stasis. Before him he sees the seeker gain its colors, the black and purple filling the frame as it slowly uncurl from the ball. Finally he meets the optics of the seeker and the distance between them become smaller and smaller as Skywarp slowly floats towards him.

Their frames touching he receive sensations from the other seeker and gasps.

He is surprised by the enormous amount of pain that is filling his mate. Joined in their sparks as they are nothing is kept from the other. Skywarp sees the want for revenge burning in the Winglord and he shares his own rage with the blue seeker.

Strengthening each other by the love floating freely around them both and enveloping themselves and the other in their feelings their sparks is slowly being healed by the presence of their mate this close.

Then as time passes, their connection slowly fades and Thundercracker once again becomes aware of his own frame. Moments before he is fully returned to his own frame and their sparks disconnect completely a crackling energy fills his spark and shoots into Skywarp just as energy from the black and purple seeker enters his own spark.

Finally disconnecting their sparks Thundercracker senses a part of his mate still lingering with him, and he wraps the connection in warm caring feelings.

A moment later Skywarps optics online and their optics find each other instantly. Staying like they are with the open chestplates almost touching, they marvel in the feeling of the other inside themselves. Slowly a smile grows on the black and purple seekers face and he reaches a servo to cares Thundercrackers slightly open lips.

Around them silence reign and they are forgetting that they have several hundred seekers watching them. The Winglord had never been more vulnerable than at that moment with his spark bared and only protected by the frames of two submissives from the dominants surrounding them, doesn’t care, nothing else than the wellbeing of the black and purple seeker mattered to him at that moment.

/My spark in yours as yours are in mine, our destiny entwine./they whisper in unity, their mind and sparks connected completely. They would not suffer the others pain, but if one of them died now, they both would.

Closing the chestplates of his mate before he rises Thundercracker silently lets Skywarp know that he is to rest. Rising he closes his own chest and seals his spark behind the dense armor before looking around at the seekers surrounding them.

Seeing his creator among them he nods to the black and grey seeker and gestures for him to join him. He needs to know what had happened since he went offline.

Gauged by the amount of seekers not related to the Swiftstrike clan he can guess some of it, but he wants to hear the full content, before he announces his decision.

Swiftstrike had wasted no time in gaining the favor of the nearest clans. As he received the glyph from the Winglord he had become the temporary leader of the seekers until Thundercracker was well enough. In case Thundercracker died, fighting among the seekers would occur and the strongest among those would then become the new Winglord.

If Thundercracker died the essence of their people would fuse with that of Swiftstrike’s and when the new Winglord had been found, the transfer of the glyph would be enough for the essence to release and fuse with the new one. Alas Swiftstrike would not die being the temporary Winglord and none of the dominants would gain anything from killing him while he possessed the duty of leading in the absence of the true Winglord.

As the creator of the Winglord the black and grey seeker had sensed that Thundercracker still was alive, through the faint creator/creation bond that still lingered after all this time. That bond would never leave and now it played an important part. He knew Thundercracker was out there somewhere and he needed to find him. That was why he had wasted no time in contacting the closest clans to get as many seekers under his command to search for the missing seekers. With Thundercracker incapacitated enough or injured enough for the seeker to send the glyph Skywarp would either have shared his fate or died.

Whatever had been done to the Winglord could inevitably affect the rest of their people so the act of contacting the other clans was also to strengthen their base of leadership, currently the Swiftstrike clan. Searching for the missing seekers would make the clan vulnerable to any attack and rid them of a large amount of the fight capable seekers thus leaving them open to attacks.

Unsurprising some of the clan leaders of the nearby clans he had sought out had decided to follow their members to reside in the Swiftstrike clan. The occurrence with the incapacitated Winglord was so very rare that only the oldest among the seekers had experienced something similar. That was why it only had been natural for the leaders of the different clans to join up and share their own knowledge with each other while supporting the temporary Winglord as they learned the fate of their true leader.  
Listening to what his creator had managed in the short time he had been the temporary Winglord, Thundercracker let ‘Swiftstrike’ know that he was pleased with what the seeker had done. With this many seekers residing in the Swiftstrike clan Thundercracker had the needed amount of seekers to do a fairly large amount of damage. However they might not be happy to do what he ordered and he understood them. He was fuelled by the rage at what the grounders had done to Skywarp and their creation, they weren’t.

But he knew that if they knew they would be just as enraged as himself. Their creations were the most precious in their existence and when one of the seekers in a trine became sparked the trine lived for nothing but the newspark.

That the grounders had terminated Skywarps and his creation was unforgiving!

Returning to his trinemate, mate and now also sparkmate Thundercracker watched the still pained look on the recharging seeker. It would take a long time for the damages to fully heal and the pain to disappear. What he had sensed while they were connected had been the large fracture in the black and purple seekers spark, where the newspark had been connected. The broken bond had not been gently on the seeker.

Anger rising again he turned to look at his creator with a hard stare.

“I have orders for you.” The Winglord growled.

o o o

Forest in the southern hemisphere:

As Ratchet and Hound entered the forests in the south where they had learned the seekers were at the moment they registered the large amount of seekers present in the air at any time. It made them wonder what was going on; since Hound rarely saw this many seekers present this close together at the same time. They encountered large groups of up to thirty individuals overflying the area they travelled in, flying in low height in large triangular formations. Luckily Hounds holograms could hide them from view and protect them when they heard the tell-tale of the jet engines coming closer.

Slowly venturing deeper into the forest they both felt the danger they were traveling into, trespassing on the seekers while the aerial transformers acted this strange. One seeker they might survive, but a group would be their fast deactivation.

Hound always carried one of the special sedations with him, just in case, since he went into the forests as much as he did. But the sedation would be of no use at this moment, it would just enrage the seekers even more. His skills in avoiding the seekers now came in handy as they slowed down their advancement and tuned their audials and sensors, hoping to locate any seekers nearby before they themselves were located. 

At least they were only two and thus able to sneak through the area more silently. However they knew that at some point their luck might run out. That or the seekerlet would wake before they found the perfect spot to leave it. If that happened then they both knew they would die. Sedated and carried inside Ratchet the seekerlet knew nothing of the dangers its adopted creators travelled at the moment, and if it woke any sound it uttered could and would alert the mature seekers to their presence.

Then as a cycle passed, the seekers just vanished. No sound was heard in the forest and the two autobots didn’t know if the silence was good or bad with the strange behavior from the seekers. Still careful of their surroundings they kept on going further into the forests. Their destination would be an area where there were clear signs of the seekers hunting. It would be best for the seekerlet to be found by its own kin and returned to the society it belonged to. Coming that close to the seekers hunting spots was not a wise move, but the safety of the seekerlet was the only thing the two autobots thought about as they went on.

Finally coming to an area visibly demolished; showing fallen broken trees and broken branches from those still standing Ratchet searched the ground and soon found the signs of small dens housing petro rabbits or turbo foxes. Some of the dens had been torn by large claws digging into the ground and pools of dried energon could be seen here and there.

Seeing the damage in the area caused him to shudder as he imagined what would happen with a mature seeker hunting in one of their city states. Once more he was confirmed in the rightness in what they were doing.

Dragging some of the underbrush together, he made a soft makeshift berth to place the seekerlet upon before they left. Beside him Hound held the still sedated seekerlet while scouting the air and looking for any sign of seekers approaching. A faint whimper left the sedated seekerlet and Ratchet jerked around, looking at the little red blue and white form in Hounds servos. Withdrawing a syringe and some more sedation he carefully pressed the needle into the fragile frame and sedated the seekerlet further.  
They needed to be long gone from the forest before it woke up, and the extra sedation would give them the needed time to leave without having to hurry.

Then as the sedation settled into the little frame Ratchet gingerly took the seekerlet and without thinking hugged it to his chestplate. The little one was his creation for frag sake, whatever specie it truly belonged to, and being forced to abandon it didn’t change the feelings he had developed over the time for the little seekerlet. Murmuring to the still form resting in his servos he nuzzled the little wings before he reluctantly crouched and placed it on the makeshift berth he had made for it.

Seeing the materials slowly curl around the lite frame and embrace the seekerlet, almost hiding it from view a silent tear burst from his optics. Then he forced himself to stand and look away. The faster they left the area the better it would be for them both. Giving place for Hound to say goodbye Ratchet walked a bit away and took over Hounds duty keeping optics on the sky and listen for advancing seekers.

Kneeling beside the little improvised berth Hound reached a digit to caress the seekerlet. He replayed all the special moments he had had with the seekerlet and felt some relieve that he at least still would have the memories, while the seekerlet would grow up among its own kin.

“Be strong little one” he whispered before he rose from his position and turned to Ratchet.

“Let’s move.” He told the medic as he walked to join him.

Sighing Ratchet nodded.

Transforming they began the slow travel out of the forest.

A cycle passed and they still didn’t see or hear anything from the seekers. It should have been a relief, but the silence that reigned in the forest was uncommon. As they went on a bad feeling grew in both their frames, until they came to the last spot where they had seen the seekers fly by. Fate would that at this moment a large buzzing began to fill the air around them, and they transformed and looked puzzled at each other.

Then the skyline broke and they could see what made the loud buzzing. Hound just managed to cover them in his hologram as they watched the largest group of seekers probably ever seen fill the sky.

In the front of the group countless smaller groups of three seekers flying in their triangular formation led the flock. They could faintly distinct the different colors of the seekers as they flew by. He sight would have been one of wonder, if they behavior wasn’t this strange.

Then a shocking sight greeted them as the smaller groups dwindled. Following them one large formation came into view.

It consisted of the incomplete trines and single seekers still not having found their trinemates.

To the two autobots the large formation reminisced that of an organized military unit, like they had seen when the enforcers and soldiers patrolled publicly in the city state. To think that the seekers possessed something like that caused them both to feel the chill run down their backstruts. And even if they accepted that the seekers were this organized, then the fact that this large unit was on the move completely froze the energon in their lines.

What was going on?

As the large formation left their vision in the distance something else registered in their minds.

The formation was not headed into the forest, but out of it. If Ratchet had calculated right, the force of seekers would come out of the forest at coordinates not far from some of the small settlements that lived along the rim of the forest. At that fact he frowned. Seekers didn’t seek out the grounder civilization living around them, they rarely left the forests, especially in this large a group.

When they did it was to travel either north of south to the other forests to change their living areas. The sights of the seekers moving at those occasions had always drawn the grounders, since it was one of the chances for them to see the seekers. To see the large groups of thousands upon thousands of transformers taking up the sky almost blocking out the sun while they moved on was a marvelous sight, and one of the times where the grounders could come closer to the wilder transformers without instigating violence.

Ratchet had always wondered how the seekers were able to form up and keep that large a formation without any aggression among each other.

With one last glance to the sky they transform back into their altmodes and carry on in their way out of the forest.

A cycle later they are disturbed in the silent travel by Ratchets comm. alerting them to an incoming message. The sound rings loudly in their surroundings and they both stop to listen to the forest around them. No movements registering they relax and Ratchet accepts the message.

Greeting them is the monotone voice of the planet wide emergency system.

The system is used to inform the nearest enforcers, medics or other rescuers if they are needed in the area they at the moment are in. Being a medic Ratchet has his signature logged in the system and that is why he now gets this message from the system.

As it has announced that his help is needed a recording of the emergency call made is played for the medic and he is informed of the location of the emergency.

The voice greeting the two autobots is scratchy and in the background loud sounds almost drowned out the voice of the speaker.

“This is… I am citizen of A90b5 settlement, common name Astaria. We are in …eed of immediate help! …kers is attacking. We …ave several dead, injured and dying.” A loud explosion sounds and the rest is deafened out. Then a loud scream is filling the record and the sound of crushing metal is the last heard on the recorded emergency before it ends.

Ratchet looks at Hound and sees that the tracker is as affected by the record as he himself is.

Before he closes the message from the emergency system he gets a review of how many other rescuers there are in the area. Surprised he recognizes the glyph of the Lord High Protector self and several other enforcers as well as medics. Wondering what this many people and especially the Lord High Protector is doing out in the wilderness he gently pokes Hound out if the mechs stupor and motion for them both to transform.

They might as well see what they can do to help. However Ratchet knows there isn’t much they can do about the attack. If the attackers is the large group of seekers they saw leaving the forest, the only thing they are able to do is pick up the pieces. There is no way for them to gather a force large enough to deal with the seekers before they have ravaged the settlement.

Grimacing he prepares himself for the sight of dead mangled half-eaten transformers and just hope that there will be something he can do.

Finally after hurrying as much as they have been able to through the forest, the trees being to thin around them and they are able to move more freely while in their altmodes. But with the thinning of the forest they are reminded that their cover soon vanishes and they move more careful towards the edge of the treeline.

Before they completely step out of the forest they hear the screeching of an enormous amount of jet engines burning hot not far away. Daring a peek out from the trees Ratchet instantly see the seekers flock in the distance, diving and looping above a cloud of smoke that drifts up towards them from the ground. He has no doubt knowing what it is that is smoking that violently and retreating to the safety of the trees he sighs.

“I fear it is a massacre.” He tells the tracker.

Taking a peek of his own Hound agrees with the medic.

As time passes and they now and then takes a peek to see if the seekers soon is going to leave, they see more and more of the fliers gather in the air at every look. Then only a few is still diving down into the smoke and soon all the seekers is gathered in the air.

In the air the seekers begin to circle the ruined settlement and as Ratchet watches they being to form up in their groups of threesomes still circling the other seekers before they slowly file out and begin the flight back into the forest. Poking Hound to have a look too they both feels a sick fascination at the sight of the organized groups. It is sick because of the destruction the fliers have been doing not long before and to be fascinated so shortly after something that disastrous to their society is wrong, but they can’t help it.

Watching the large group of seekers form, they realize that each seeker in the large group that is made up of what they guess is several hundred seekers, must have a certain spot to occupy in the unity. The complexity of the seekers begins to grow on them. To be able to form this large a formation this smoothly requires a complex intelligence beyond what the grounders in general think of the seekers. Of course the adopted creators has seen some of the sentience in the seekerlet as it grew, but to watch fully developed seekers to interact and move like one as they are before them stuns them.

Seeing the large formation slowly move towards the forest the two autobots prepare to get to the settlement as soon as the last seeker is out of view. Watching the seekers flying away overhead Hound checks his hologram to be sure it is working correctly. It would be bad to be visible with the seekers practically hanging over them. His healthy fear of the wild seekers had grown a notch and he wonders if he is able to see the seekers in the same light as before. With the seekerlet he already has had to change his point of view, but with the actions he has seen the seekers do on their travel this orn he senses that there is more to it than anyone know.

Dragged from his thought by the medic as Ratchet transforms, he followed suite and they are soon both speeding towards the smoking area ahead of them.

Coming closer they begin to see more and more of the buildings smoking and something isn’t right.

First when they are practically driving into the settlement the reason for the sight of the buildings is revealed. Nothing in the settlement is above a meter in height. Every building has been completely demolished into debris and all around them corpses is littered.

Transforming Ratchet stares as the area of destruction completely shocked.  
Questions presses on in his mind and the one most clear is WHY? Why did the seekers do this?

Kneeling he removes a large part of a wall and to an even greater shock the corpse of a sparkling is revealed to him. Gingerly lifting the lifeless shell from the ruin he studies the frame.

There are no dental marks. Only signs of the sharp claws.

Gently placing the corpse on the ground he rises and begins to walk around the area hoping, but knowing that he won’t find anything alive.

Every corpse he studies shows the same as the frame of the sparkling. There is no sign of dentals used.

A frown grows on his faceplate. It is common knowledge that seekers kill to feed. Not before has any seeker killed anything without feeding from it. To have a whole settlement killed without the sign of any feeding, he begins to shake at the realization that something has caused this. Something has made the seekers become even more aggressive and violent.

But he doesn’t know what. And he can just stand there and look at the aftermath.

Meeting the optics of the tracker he sees that Hound has frozen on the spot in shock. With his medical knowledge and ingrained need to help he has been able to withdraw emotionally from the sight of the massacre, but the tracker isn’t as lucky.

Walking to the green mech he gently shakes him out of his state.

“It is going to be okay.” He tells the tracker, even if he doesn’t believe the words himself.

Instead of an answer Hound just keeps staring.

“What about the seekerlet?” Hound finally asks when his mind returns to his frame.

“I don’t know.” Ratchet sighs.

“We-. We can’t leave it out here. Leave it to become THAT. Starscream isn’t like that. He will die, Ratchet!” Hound argues.

“Starscream?” Ratchet inquires.

“Eh. I had thought up a name in case we did keep him.” The tracker explains while not meeting the optics of the medic.

When Hound finally looked him in the optics Ratchet could see a new hardness in them and he knew that wouldn’t be able to argue the tracker from keeping the seekerlet. The behavior of the wild seekers had been an optic opener to himself and Ratchet had to admit that he felt fear for what the seekerlet – no Starscream – would have to go through among its own kin.

Sighing deeply he let Hound know that he understood and while he couldn’t do anything for the dead in the settlement he at least could protect the seekerlet they had left in the forest.

“Let’s go and find our little one then.” He said as he transformed into his altmode and began the long road into the forest they just had left not long before.

Sound was coming back to the forest and they now and then watched a lone seeker flying in the sky far above them.

Without any encounters they managed to return to the spot where they had left the seekerlet safely tugged in the berth made of the underbrush. To their great relief the seekerlet still were there, the sedation still keeping its hold on it.

Hound wasted no time in lifting the seekerlet from the ground and tugs it securely against his chassis, fretting over it like it had been vorns since he last had seen it. Ratchet just lets out another sigh. He knows how difficult the time to come will be. He needs to make some modifications to the seeker to make it less dangerous to itself and the surroundings.

Leaving the forest to return to Iacon the two autobots beings the long tedious way back home, the seekerlet safely inside Ratchet once more, still completely unaware of the drama that has played out around it and how fate has decided for it to stay with its adopted creators.

Now was just to be seen how it reacted to its name.

o o o

Ruins of Astaria:

The Lord High Protector walked the still smoking ruins of the settlement just as the two autobots had done a cycle prior to his arrival.

Now and then kicking at the debris littering the ground he is greeted by the hidden corpses underneath what had been their homes.

Coming upon the very same shell of the sparkling as Ratchet had, he kneels down and studies the grey frame. Shaking his head he withdraws his optics from the empty optics and looks around at the surroundings once more.

Footsteps behind him cause him to rise and when he turns he is greeted by the sight of Soundwave, the mech stoically waiting.

“Report.” He orders the communications specialist, his voice a bit harder than intended.

“Source of the attack: Seekers. Reason: unknown.” The mech drones, unfazed by the anger in the Lord High Protectors voice.

That causes Megatron to frown. The seekers!

“Any knowledge of who led the attack?” he asks. If the two seekers were behind this there would be severely punishment.

“Surveillance: leader black and grey seeker. Amount: Approximately several hundred seekers.” Soundwave explains. When the emergency had been received he had been fast to dispatch Laserbeak to record the seekers and had not seen the blue or the black and purple seeker among the masses of seekers that had been present at the massacre.

The answer surprise the Lord High Protector. Why hadn’t the leader been at the attack? Hadn’t they returned to their people at this time? He wondered.

Glancing at the ruins one last time he leaves the rescuers to do their duty and motion for Soundwave to follow him back to Iacon. There was nothing he could do here.


	15. Chapter 15

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay:

“Starscream!” Ratchet growled at the seekerlet sitting on his shoulder.

At the name the seeker silenced its growl but nevertheless kept looking at Firstaid as he talked with his mentor about the coming surgery he was going to perform.

It still wasn’t easy for the seekerlet to accept the newcomer to their little family since they returned from the forest 4 orns ago. And to say Firstaid was happy to see the little being return with the two autobots would be a lie.

However things had gone a bit easier since Ratchet had taken the seeker into the medbay instantly at their return and promptly had begun the delicate operation it was to remove its access to its weapons. While he worked he decided to see if he could do anything to lessen its aggression, and it seemed that it had worked a bit. At least the seekerlet hadn’t turned to physical violence.

While Ratchet had been busy working with the seekerlet Hound had left, and when he returned he had his servos filled with crates. What later were revealed was hundreds of the small irritating glitch mice.

Finally getting an understanding somehow of the seekers, the adopted creators began to treat the seekerlet like what it was – a wilder transformer. With that change in their look on the little thing they managed to defuse some of the troubles that before could have gone by unnoticed before they became troubles.

With the introduction of the name, the seekerlet still surprised them. The understanding had gone strangely easy.

They had decided to take the explanation the easy way, pointing at each other and saying their names. Then they had pointed at the seekerlet and had pronounced Hounds decided name. It had been comical to see the seekerlet crock its head at each name and then when they had said the name ‘Starscream’ it had after some time made a soft trilling sound before it pointed at itself.

The understanding of the name came with the help from the bond between the seekerlet and the creators. Gauging the feelings and thoughts related to the sound the creators had said it both translated the meaning of the sound and the essence of it.

What Starscream understood from the sound pronounced and what he gauged from the bond, the creators had given him a name, the word pronounced. And he understood the essence of that name, translating the common cybertronian words into an understanding among the seekers.

While the creators called him Starscream, the seekerlet itself and any other seeker he would encounter would know him as ‘Scream In The Air’. Seekers related the call signs, which were more like endearments and not real names at the early stage of the seekers life, to the essence of their life. The sky. The wind. Or even their wings.

That was why Thundercracker at times was called ‘Loud In The Air’, and Skywarp ‘Disappear In The Air’. Even after they received their mature name the endearments could linger, but it was rarely used outside the unit the creation had with its creators. For anyone not related to the seeker to use the call sign could be seen as offending to the seeker in question.  
It didn’t take long for Starscream to react to the name when they talked to him. Still, understanding only goes so far with different languages and vocalizers not designed to utter the words of the other language. But the first time trouble had begun after their return Ratchet had learned a new way to get their meaning across, at least when it came to stop Starscream from acting out.

Where they before had fretted around and nuzzled and puzzled about him when something he did wasn’t right, Ratchet had completely thrown that way of acting in the trashcan. Instead he had turned to firm actions. And it had been rewarding.

It might look like abusing to the outsiders but what Ratchet did actually reminisced a lot like what would have happened if Starscream had been among his own kin.

If the seekerlet hadn’t stopped growling at Firstaid when Ratchet had growled, the medic would simply have jerked it from his shoulder by the tail and let it dangle loosely in the air until its fit of rage stopped. However since the first few times, the warning in the medic’s voice as he growled the seekerlets name would be enough to defuse the anger that wasn’t true anger.

Starscreams actions were more territorial behavior, telling the medic in training that Ratchet was his.

This orn however Ratchet had no patience with Starscream. Firstaid was to go through his first major surgery alone, while Ratchet would stand by and just observe, only to step in if anything went wrong. And later in the orn Hound had pleaded for him to participate in the political discussion that had been announced there would be this orn in one of the large amphitheaters, starring all the senators and the Prime and Lord High Protector. It was one of the chances for them to watch the rulers of their society while they worked.

However Ratchet knew that what they would get to see was only a theatrical performance that didn’t show how it all truly went on. He had argued valiantly against it, but Hound had won and he had accepted to go with the tracker.

The only reason was simply because his own curiosity to see the new Prime in action had grown. He still remembered the former Prime from his own time as a senator, which had been greatly disappointing. He hoped to see a Prime that was more eager to fight for the rights of the lowest in their society, even if he tried to not let that hope grow too much.

“Sir. I am ready.” Firstaid said as the last parts of the surgery had been explained, and nodding Ratchet left the medbay to let Starscream stay with Hound. Firstaid had enough of a pressure without the hostile stare of the seekerlet on his back as he worked.

Entering the common room where Hound currently relaxed with a cube of energon Ratchet gently placed Starscream in the lap of the tracker.

“Watch duty. We are going to be busy for quite some while.” He told the green mech before he left the two.

Looking down Hound found the inquiring stare of Starscreams yellow optics.

“I think I have the right thing to keep you occupied.” He smiled, and the smile grew as the yellow color of the optics grew brighter a moment. Starscream had sensed the excitement in his voice and simply reacted to that.  
Placing the seekerlet on the table, Hound slowly began to clear the room for any obstacles and when a nice roomy space was made, he let out a satisfied humming.

Trilling Starscream responded and crocked his helm at the strangeness in Hounds behavior.

“You just wait.” The tracker laughed at the seekerlet before he left the room.

At that Starscream was about to leave the table, preparing to transform and follow the departing figure of his creator. But Hound was back before any of that could happen, carrying a crate in his servo.

Studying the crate intensely as Hound came closer to the table, the seekerlets curiosity grew and finally he transformed into his miniature tetrajet form and slowly glided towards the tracker, elegantly landing on the shoulder and curling the tail around the neck of his creator. Scenting and listening Starscream studied the crate closer and then let out a growl.

It just made Hound smile, the growl more a sign of impatience than aggression, and they knew how curious Starscream could be.

Finally opening the crate he revealed the content to the seekerlet.

Seeing a few of the glitch mice that Hound had purchased to keep him fuelled and to lower his aggression towards his surroundings, Starscream leaned forwards from the shoulder and studied the small critters milling around in the crate.

Looking at the seekerlet Hound found him completely hypnotized by the critters that clearly sensed the danger coming. Thinking back to the experience with the petro rabbit he recognized some of the signs that he hadn’t paid any attention to earlier.

Like the slightly bowed legs, the wings held high and wide and the tail slowly uncurling from his neck. Wincing he sensed when Starscream ground his talons and claws into his plating to stabilize himself since the tail no longer would. Smacking his jaws, grinding the dentas together while the olfactory sensors took in the smell of prey, the optics didn’t blink one time as Starscream looked at the scared mice.

Seeing all this happening he still wondered how he had been able to be that ignorant when he had taken the seekerlet out that orn where they learned of its ability to hunt. Now it all was so clear and with the knowledge of what Starscream would become when maturing he could only look back at those four vorns where they had treated him like any other sparkling.

Starscream was no sparkling. That was clear.

He would become one of the largest predators on the planet, able to even kill his own creators without little effort.

Withdrawing a mouse from the crate Hound let it fall onto the floor and the instant the mouse felt the freedom, it took off. However Starscream, in his stance and ready to pursuit the mouse flung himself from the shoulder and glided down towards his prey, while now and then turning in the air, guiding the mouse into a trap.

Then he landed with his talons firmly grabbing the mouse and crushing it under his weight. Small whines left the downed mouse as it fought to get free. Uncaring the seekerlet just ripped into it with his fangs efficiently silencing the mouse as its vital energon flowed from the wounds.

Sounds of crunching metals followed as the seekerlet devoured the mouse.

The last part of his prey entering his intakes and going into the tank fitted to digest the metals, Starscream turned to look expectantly at his creator.

“Want one more?” Hound laughed at the look.

A whining sound, soon followed by a purr escaped the seekerlet while the tail leisurely swung from side to side.

Patting his shoulder where Starscream had been before he took off, Hound tried to see how intuitive the seekerlets awareness of the meaning by the act was.

Moments later Starscream was back on the shoulder, intently looking from Hounds optics to the crate before the tracker and back, signaling that he was ready for the next round.

Selecting another mouse from the crate Hound released the critter and once more watched Starscream take off.

Ratchet didn’t know what he was missing keeping optics on the medic in training Hound decided.

Having fun watching Starscream hunt the mice the cycles passed by quickly and when the tracker was about to release one more critter, while Starscream eagerly watched his movements anticipating another prey coming, he didn’t hear the door to the common room open.

As he was about to let the next mouse go, his grip on the critter slipped when a loud bellow rang right behind him.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” the medic almost roared.

The mice slipping Starscream didn’t care of the angry medic behind the tracker and released from the shoulder, diving for his new prey.

While Starscream was busy with the mouse, Hound flinched at the sound and turned to look at a very angry looking Ratchet.

The sound of the mouse losing against the efficient predator the seekerlet were drew Ratchets focus for a moment, and then when he saw the energon running from the dead critter onto the floor, the anger in his optics just grew a notch.

“You let him hunt inside?!” the medic facepalmed.

“Eh. Can’t see the wrong in that?” And Hound really didn’t. The mess created by Starscream would be easily cleaned up. That was why he had cleared the room of the furniture.

“And when he grows older and BIGGER, are you still going to let him do this inside?” Ratchet pointed out, pointing at the mess the seekerlet had made of the mouse.

“Oh.” Was the only thing Hound could say to what Ratchet had said. He hadn’t thought about that.

“He won’t stay this small, and we might as well begin to teach him some certain rules while he is this small and we can deal with him. I might have rendered him unable to use his weapons, but he still has his claws and talons. Civilizing him is so much easier when he is no bigger than he is at the moment. I don’t want to deal with an unruly mature seeker when that time comes.” The medic explained with a frown visible on his face as he looked at the tracker sternly.

The expression softening, seeing the understanding in Hounds optics Ratchet pats his shoulder.

“I have left Firstaid to clean up the medbay. He did quite well. I see great potential in him. Now if you get this cleaned up, it is about time that we leave.” With that Ratchet walks out of the room.

Left in the common room Hound turns to look at Starscream, the seekerlet is looking intently at him; await a new mouse coming his way.

Shaking his helm Hound walks to the seekerlet.

“Sorry kiddo. Ratchet says no.” he explains.

A pitied whine leaves Starscream at that, gauging the tone in which the words is said he understands that their fun is over.

As the spilled energon is cleaned up and the furniture returned to their places, he gathers the seekerlet from the table where it has watched Hound move around. Walking out of the common room he meets Ratchet inside the berth room.

They can’t have the seekerlet with them in public and need to leave him in the berth room, to give Firstaid the space to relax that the medic in training need after his tiring procedure in the medbay.

Placing Starscream on Ratchets berth, he just transforms and hovers in the air before them, refusing to stay where they have placed him.

Growling soundly Ratchet stops Starscream in moving further towards them as they begin to leave the room. Instead the miniature tetrajet just keeps hovering, a weak whining coming from it and sadness filling their bond.

“We are coming back. Don’t worry Starscream. We just need to do something.” Hound can’t stop trying to sooth in a soft voice.

However Starscream just keeps whining and finally Ratchet show the tracker out of the room and closes the door, sealing the seekerlet inside.

“Kindness won’t always work Hound. You need to be firm or he won’t learn.” Ratchet grumble.

“I know. I know.” The tracker sighs.

“I know how hard it is for you. But you are doing us all a favor if you can manage it. Starscream needs to learn his boundaries and the rules around him, if he is to stay with us. He don’t need cuddles, he need a firm servo to tell him when he has overstepped the rules. And he needs to learn to be separated from us; we can’t have him stuck on us all the time.” Ratchet says in an uncommon soft voice.

Exiting the building they both transform and move towards the center of the city state.

o o o

Forest in the southern hemisphere:

A trembling and a loud groan woke Thundercracker from his relaxing recharge. Turning, he watched Skywarp having one of his seizures that had been reoccurring since their capture by the grounders and the termination of the connection to the newspark.

Their only four orns old sparkbond had healed some of the pain the black and purple seeker suffered from and saved his life, but the frame seemed to remember the torture and forced Skywarp to re-experience the nightmare again and again, especially when in his recharge.

Holding the convulsing frame in a tight embrace he tried to calm his mate while the seeker recharged. Murmuring nonsense into the audio of the black and purple seeker and gently caressing the heated plating some of the tension and trembling subsided and slowly Skywarp was becoming still.

Every time he had to watch Skywarp go through one of the seizures he felt that the revenge he had dealt to the grounders wasn’t enough, and never would be. Later, after their bonding the carrier had taken Skywarp away and had studied the seekers spark to determine the possibility for it to heal from the attack done.  
What the carrier had found on the yellow spark was something that made Thundercracker’s energon freeze. Whatever the grounders had done to his mate had hurt Skywarp more than they had thought. And it had not only been the loss of the newspark that had caused the seeker to enter his deep stasis while slowly dying.

No, the large fracture in the yellow spark had a major part to play in that. Gauging the depth of the crack the carrier was certain that the fracture went as deep as the core of the spark itself. The spark was halfway split in two, and how Skywarp even had survived was a wonder.

Realizing the damages it was clear that Skywarp would not be out of danger until the spark was healed. A long and tedious process which left most of the seekers deactivated in the end. Having some of the wisest seekers from the surrounding clans joining in the Swiftstrike clan however provided a wide range of knowledge and a solution had been made after several discussions.

Sparkmerges.

The fact that the two seekers were sparkmates seemed once more to be their savior.

The infusion of energy from another spark would over time heal the damaged spark and the healing would progress swifter. It would also prevent the reasons that usually caused the seeker to deactivate, by sustaining the damaged spark with extra energy in the process.

Furthermore the two seekers would benefit from the merges, strengthening their bond and become closer.

So whenever Skywarp was awake, they merged their sparks. Slowly the great pain that seemed to fill up the whole of Skywarps essence began to fade and Thundercracker sensed that the black and purple seeker was healing more and more for every connection they made.

Sensing Skywarp coming out of his recharge, Thundercracker looked down at the still grey optics and waited for his mate to leave the recharge completely.

As the yellow began to fill the two orbs he couldn’t stop smiling, greeting his mate with a pulse of his feelings through their bond.

Sensing how his own feelings were mirrored by his mate he let his servos travel the frame of his mate, caressing some of the more sensitive spots, showing his affection for the other.

Complete awareness returned into the yellow optics, Skywarp craned his helm and looked up in the pleased face of his mate.

A strong pulse of affection pulsed from the black and purple seeker and warmed Thundercrackers spark. It was still a strange sensation to feel the others feelings this much, but it was something he enjoyed and reveled in. They weren’t able to talk through the bond yet, it required time and a stronger bond than it was at the moment, but with time that would be possible for them too.

He had always been curious in the way his creators communicated at times just looking at the other and see understanding flash in their optics. Of course he had learned later that they had a sparkbond, but to understand what that term meant he now knew that you needed to feel it before the whole meaning could be understood.

It was feelings, sensations, intuition, something hard to explain completely to one that hadn’t felt it.

Resting his servos on the chestplates of the black and purple seeker, he silently asked Skywarp to open up to him, to enable a merge, worry and concern bleeding into the feelings he send to his mate. He would only stop worrying when the fracture was healed.

Skywarp could keep telling him that he felt okay, that the pain was dwindling and that the energy was returning to his systems, but one fatal act and Skywarp could be no more. He had firmly grounded his mate, ordering him to stay in the camp and instead of letting him move around, Thundercracker had assigned a seeker to keep watch of his mate when he himself wasn’t there.

The black and purple chestplates slowly withdrawing the Winglord flipped them around to let the smaller seeker lay on his larger frame. As the sparkchamber was revealed he let his own chestplates withdraw and hugged Skywarp close while their sparkchambers opened to let their sparks touch and send them both inside the meta world that were their sparks.

After the first merge that created the bond, every merge since had been so much more intense. Some of it mainly because of Skywarp being conscious and aware, but also because the energy that had been required to forge the bond the first time was in free motion in their sparks and caused the feelings and sensations from the other spark to be enhanced. Sometimes a twirl of said energy would create a memory flux from Skywarps or his own memory core. It was a strange occurrence to look into the past of his mate or to realize that the memory from his own past was being seen by Skywarp as if the memory was the seekers own. Then the twirls would dissolve and they would both return to the floating space in the meta world both looking at each other and marvel at the experience they had re-/experienced.  
Looking around in the meta world filled with the yellow coloration known from their bonding he watches the energy fizzle and twirl around, until at one point one of the twirls collide with another and the surroundings turn white.

When the blinding light fades and he is able to see his surroundings he knows he is inside a memory. 

Around him is the forest.

Around him grounders are milling.

Looking down he realize it is Skywarps memory.

He senses a gently pat on his shoulder and turn to look at the grounder. Looking at the grounder he is unable to gauge the emotion that fills the optics.

Then the grounder walk away and his focus are taken up by those still milling around his/Skywarps frame.

Then the memory forward and he is surrounded by almost every grounder present in the area.

He senses Skywarps withdrawing from his surroundings at that point and a bad feeling enters Thundercrackers spark.

“Activate it.” he hears a voice utter. A voice he has heard himself.

But he isn’t able to keep the thought as the echo of the agony Skywarp went through as the collar was activated singes him.

However he hears Skywarps scream and he senses the echo of when the bond with the newspark is severed by the onslaught.

This is where their sparks begins to disconnect and they are returned into their own frames and reality dawns upon them.

The memory is no more than a memory, but the impact by the shared experience is huge.

Skywarp is trembling, his wings vibrating and silently tears fall from his offlined optics. He is clinging to the frame of the Winglord, the only secure thing that is able to convince him that he isn’t back in the forest with the grounders torturing him. The loss of the newspark however is refreshed in his spark. But now he is no longer alone in the feeling. He is bonded and the feelings are shared with his mate.

Feeling the pain himself by experiencing what Skywarp had to go through, Thundercracker just cradle the trembling frame close to his own, letting his mate know that he is there.

The memory slowly fading from his processor, Skywarp cycles down and soon enter recharge, the frame taking the shared energy and continue the long healing process of his spark.

Just lying there with the recharging frame of his mate resting on his own, Thundercracker replays the memory he just witnessed. Realizing what Skywarp had had to endure and what the seeker survived from causes his optics to darken.

No. 

Whatever revenge he dealt would never be enough to make up for the hurt his mate had been put through.

Content that his mate is healing Thundercracker initiates his own recharge and soon follows his mate into blissful abandon.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major chapter in the story. also the largest one written so far. Hope you enjoy.

Forest in the southern hemisphere:

While Thundercracker and Skywarp recharges, the little device installed in the helm of the Winglord activates.

Scrolling through the program installed, the status of the mind control unit is verified as working correctly and a command line appears.

Slowly the empty screen is loaded with information retrieved from the storage unit connected to the device and the first order is written.

As numerous letters and symbols is filling the screen a special translator is working behind it all, enabling the seeker’s processor to understand the order written.

Then as the lines of letters and symbols finish, the cursor just blinks.

Waiting…

Waiting…

And then when the moment occurs the order activates.

Thundercracker is jolted from his recharge by a mind searing pain in his processor. Skywarp still lying atop the Winglord is woken by the jolt that cause Thundercracker to sit up straight.

His optics clearing he watches Thundercracker rub his helm as he groans.

/What is wrong?/ the black and purple seeker asks, gently rubbing the blue wings.

/I… argh…don’t know./ Thundercracker groans.

Trying to get up from the ground another stinging pain fills his mind and he is on his knees, servos cradling his temples as the pain wreak havoc in his helm.

He vaguely hears Skywarps panicky cries for him to relax and that the black and purple seeker will find help, but another sharp pain stalls every comprehending from then on. He is left crippled on his knees, unable to sense his surroundings, control his wings, hear, see or smell anything. Only the pain in his processor is felt.

The reason for the pain in Thundercrackers helm is because he is being hacked by the program, with the program gaining full access to the seekers processor, while it implements the order. When the process is done the seeker will be left with all the systems available once more, until then he is rendered without any control.

When his senses come back he feels soothing servos all over his plating and soft murmuring. Looking around he sees that Skywarp has brought his creators together with some of the other clan leaders, and while his carrier is stroking soothing caresses along his frame, Skywarp is telling what has happened to the other seekers.

Meeting the optics of his carrier he sees a frown grow on the delicate faceplates. Then the optics he is looking into is narrowing and studying him intently. Before he can ask anything the carrier has a firm grip around his jaw and is turning his helm from side to side.

A growl escapes his vocalizer at the treatment, but unfazed the blue and yellow seeker ignores the sound and just keeps staring intently.

/What is it?/ Thundercracker asks, annoyance bleeding into his voice.

/Your optics. They are orange./ the carrier answers while still studying the strange colored optics.

/What?/ he utters shocked.

Skywarp sensing distress through their bond turns to look at his mate and as their optics meet, Skywarp stops dead in what he was saying. He can’t understand what he is seeing. Before he left Thundercracker to get the others the optics were yellow. Optics colors never changed. Every seeker had yellow optics with vague variations in intensity now and then, but always yellow.

To see the now orange optics of his mate was worrying.

/You… Are you okay Thundercracker?/ he asks, concern filling his voice.

/I don’t know. The pain is gone, but I am still feeling off in a weird way./ he says as he offline his optics, his processor feels like a grounder has screwed him up and what energy he had is gone.

Silently he dismisses the other seekers so that he can get back into recharge and while they leave he gestures Skywarp to his side.

/Don’t worry. It is gone. Now let’s resume our recharge. You need your energy and I need mine./ he consoles the look on his mates faceplate. When the worry stays there he forces a little smile and slowly the tension in the black and purple seeker leaves. Nodding Skywarp lie down beside the blue seeker and let’s Thundercracker cradle him to the blue frame.

Unable to see Skywarps optics Thundercracker don’t see the growing concern and worry in them as the Winglord soon is gone into his recharge once more, leaving Skywarp to his thoughts.

However the black and purple seeker’s own spark soon demands that he enter recharge and with a sigh he lets himself drift off.

Only to be jostled out of his recharge not much time later, when Thundercracker rises from their resting area and begins to walk away.

Frowning he rises from the ground himself and calls out to his mate, wondering what is happening.

Thundercracker doesn’t respond, he just carries on, walking away.

Worry overtaking his spark he begins to run after his mate and easily reaches the departing frame of the Winglord.

/Thundercracker, what is going on? Why aren’t you responding to me?/ he inquire, following the blue seeker as he continue walking, leaving the area of the camp.

Still getting no answer, he is fighting the urge to grab the wings of the Winglord to get him to stop. It would be a very non-submissive way of acting and one that definitely will cause anger to rise in the dominant.

Finally snapping he reaches to touch the broad wings of his mate.

As the claws come in contact with the wings Thundercracker finally reacts. As the Winglord swiftly turns around and seizes the attacker, Skywarp finds himself held taut in the air by his neck, the claws of his mate digging into the vulnerable cables, wires and lines placed there.

Gulping, or trying to gulp in air to cool his systems he locks optics with Thundercrackers, and what he sees is something that makes his spark sink in its chamber.

The optics has changed coloration again.

Blood-red optics is greeting him. The ominous color now and then flashes stronger to then subside and return to the orange he saw before they last went into recharge.

/Thundercracker?/ he wheezes through his lip plates, the grip around his neck almost restraining the air flow completely.

He doesn’t feel anything from the blue seeker through their bond and the lack of response and emotion worries him even more. What was going on?

Warnings about overheating flashes in his vision as his internal temperature steadily rises and he can’t help clawing at the restraining servo around his neck as the heat in his frame causes flickers of pain to shoot through his sensor net.

He begin to panic as Thundercracker still doesn’t respond, doesn’t seem to recognize him and don’t releases him from the fierce hold around the neck, while his internal temperature reaches the point where severe internal damage might occur. 

He can’t stop himself; the panic filling his whole frame, he begins to sob at the fact that he might die by the servo of his mate.

Tears running freely from the yellow optics he cries as he conserves air for one last uttering.

His frame burning with the heat from his systems, unable to expel it and his delicate inner parts reaching the temperature where they are going to malfunction, Skywarp forces the word from his vocalizer.

/Thundercracker./ the word is uttered in a broken voice with so much sadness and despair filling it.

At the word the optics flashes violently and then settles in the orange color.

The blue frame begins to tremble and the hold on his neck lessens. It doesn’t disappear completely but he is able to get more air into his franticly overheated frame and slowly he watches the heat parameters lower into the preferred areas.

Then emotion returns in the part of their bond that is Thundercracker.

Confusion is greeting Skywarp as he pulse his own feelings of distress and worry towards the Winglord.

The arm restraining the black and purple seeker is lowering and Skywarp is placed back on the ground. As the servo releases from his neck he takes in deep gulps of air and runs a self-diagnostic to be sure nothing important has been damaged.

Several injuries being listed as the scan is complete he is relieved to see that it is something that his self-repair can handle easily.

Straightening he returns his optics to the still unresponsive frame of his mate. Daring a touch he gently lets a claw caress the cheek.

Like a spell broken this is when the trembling stops and violently shaking his helm Thundercracker seems to return to his own mind.

/You okay Thundercracker?/ the black and purple seeker asks with growing worry.

/I’m not sure. I need to leave. Something wants me to leave here for somewhere else?/ is the confused answer Skywarp gets out of the blue seeker as the seeker rubs his back helm.

/Can I tag along? You scared me completely. Couldn’t get through to you at all and you were gone in our bond. I don’t like this that is going on./ worry fear and concern filling the black and purple seekers voice as he asks.

Looking into the distance facing away from the center of the forest Thundercracker is silent for some time, and then he finally nods.

Moving further into the forest, away from the camp Skywarp checks his systems one more time to be sure he will be able to take flight and follow his mate. Whatever affected Thundercracker this much the black and purple seeker wanted his share of. There was no way he would let Thundercracker out of his sight with the strange behavior affecting the Winglord.

Coming to a minor clearing among the trees the two seekers transform and takes off, one following the urge compelling him, the other warily following the other as they leave the protection of the well-known forest they both have grown up in.

Before them barren land is all around, the nature dominated by the grounders who don’t care of their surroundings.

As time passes and Thundercracker has made a few adjustments in their direction, crude structures become visible in the distance and as they come closer, Skywarp realizes that the structures it where Thundercracker is going.

All around them he smells the unnatural substances that the grounders produce and to his horror he sees more and more of the ground covered in unnatural materials making the ground unable to breath and the nature unable to live there.

As the large structures becomes bigger he is able to recognize smaller structures not as high littering the ground all over the place in the distance and the smell of the grounders become so thick that he has to force his vents to draw in the air.

As he is about to ask Thundercracker to stop, the blue seeker does just that.

Turning around Thundercracker looks expectantly at him, his optics flickering with the blood-red color.

/I need you to teleport us to the coordinates: 7894-7657-2901./ the Winglord orders the black and purple seeker.

Running the coordinates Skywarp has to rerun them to be certain, and then as he gets the same result he looks into Thundercrackers optics.

/What do you want to do THERE?/ he asks incredulously.

Determination, intent and an emotion he can’t gauge floods from Thundercrackers part of the bond.

/Don’t worry Skywarp. Everything will be fine./ Thundercracker tells him, but he can’t help worrying.

With a sigh he bows his head defeated. Grabbing a hold of the other seeker he enters the coordinates into his navigation system before he initiates the teleportation.

With a pop of displaced air and the mist of purple the two seekers are gone from any view.

o o o

Iacon, Amphitheater in the center of the city state:

The road into the center of the city state was cramped with transformers in altmodes pressing to get to the amphitheater before the others around them, and cursing and yelling could be heard now and then, when someone got too close to another in their eagerness. When they finally saw the large building in the distance Ratchet’s mood had dwindled drastically as he had had to yell at a few himself to avoid being crashed into in the frenzy that the road had been.

Moving slowly towards their destination Hound looked closer at the building. It wasn’t often that he ventured this deep into the city state and the ancient buildings adoring that part of the state was amazing. The amphitheater was one of the oldest of those. However it was rarely used for anything, only political discussions like the one they were going to see this orn had been had in it lately.

As they arrived at the square before the large building, they found it filled to the brim with mechs waiting to gain entrance into the building; the frenzy from the road continuing in the pushing masses. Everyone was trying to get the best seats to watch what would be going on down in the arena in the middle of the building.

Hound almost regretted going there, the mech not used to be in this cramped places and being jostled, pushed and pulled from every direction.

As they finally made it to the entrance he couldn’t help let out a relieved sigh as he was finally allowed some more space while they walked up the stairs to get to one of the platforms rising above the arena. Finding two free seats they sat down and looked all around them. In the distance they could see the other side of the ring and the mechs milling there to find seats.

Down in the arena itself a large podium had been created in one end, filled with marvelous looking chairs. In the other end a similar podium had been created. This one was slowly being filled with the nobility of their people sitting in the prominent chairs and talking among each other.  
A bit away from the first podium two platforms were placed beside each other, not looking like much compared to the furniture on the two podiums.

Above the three rings fitted with seats for those who had come to see whatever was happening in the theater, sturdy metal beams held the roof. The beams formed large windows all around the upper ring and allowed the light outside to enter the building freely and naturally, enlightening the whole arena.

As Hound studied the surroundings, Ratchet just looked down into the arena with a frown on his faceplates. Around them the remaining free seats was slowly filled as the time went on.

Before long every seat was filled and the large doors to the building were sealed shut, making it impossible for anyone to intrude on the political debate. Everyone sensed the shaking of the strong doors closing as the shaking traveled through every part of the structure the building was made of.

Silence quickly fell all around them and people looked expectantly down into the arena waiting for the senators and the Lord High Protector and Prime to enter the scene.

A breem passed, then they see a door in the northern part of the arena opening and from it the Lord High Protector stride towards his platform while he nods towards the nobles. Coming to the platform he slowly takes his place and turns his back to the nobles and face the podium on which the senators will be sitting.

Moments later they watch the Prime as he walks towards his own platform having entered through a door in the southern part of the arena. The Prime greets the nobles just like the Lord High Protector, but when he is done he waves around to the spectators on the rings before he takes his place on his own platform.

At the gesture to the common people Ratchet raises a brow ridge. This Prime seems different. Remembering Sentinel, the former Prime never did anything like what the Prime down in the arena just did. The hope in his spark grow as he studies the red and blue Prime who still is looking up at the rings and is smiling.

Moment’s passes and silence fall once again. Then as a few breems has passed the large door behind the senators’ podium open, and one by one the senators file in, going to their respective seats. As the 75 senators has found their seats and has made themselves comfortable silence falls once more.

Every optic is focused on the chairman of the Senate, waiting for him to open the debate.

“It is a pleasure to see so much interest for the wellbeing of our society. Thanks you for coming to this debate.” The chairman greets the spectators.

“Lord High Protector. Prime.” He nods at the two powerful rulers. Megatron is scowling visibly at the chairman as his title is used, while the Prime nods in greeting.

“We have today following content to discuss-.” The chairman begins, and he proceed to announce a long list of issues and suggestions as well as laws that need verification before they can be legislated.

As the debate begin and arguments for and against the topic currently viewed, Ratchet fills Hound in as the discussion progress. As he expected no vile arguments was occurring as they used to when he had his time as a senators. He can’t help the sneer or disdained sounds leaving his vocalizer now and then at one of the most fake acts among the senators, all to please the on looking spectators.

Now and then a debate gets heated and some insults is thrown, but those are few and as they have made it halfway through the list of topics nothing has actually been decided on the foregoing ones, none of the participants has been able to agree on a direction to take regarding the topics.

The Lord High Protector and Prime is speaking validly for the suggestions regarding the welfare of the poorest of the people suffering the most from the crisis and how the Senate should handle some of the problems currently ruining their society. 

As one of the senators has entered a particularly aggressive rant against one of the Primes suggestions a purple mist is gathering in the area between the two platforms on which Megatron and Optimus is standing and the podium where the senators are present.

A loud pop sounds and in front everyone’s optics two frames appear in the arena.

Silence reign the amphitheater as the mist slowly disappear and reveals that the figures in the middle of it is two seekers.

Precious eight kliks pass before the reality dawns upon the spectators and everyone else looking at the two seekers that have just appeared down in the arena.

o o o

Iacon, Amphitheater, Arena:

Coming out of the post teleportation mist Skywarp looks around.

The smell of grounders is deafening on his olfactory sensors and before he manages to complain about the smell he registers the presence of grounders all around him.

As the mist vanish in the air he is able to get a good look around to verify what his sensors tells him and he is greeted with the sight of thousands of grounders placed on platforms raised above where he is at the moment.

Fear fills his spark and he wonders what Thundercracker is doing wanting to go here?

Speaking of Thundercracker, he watches as the Winglord begin to move towards a podium where a large group of grounders are sitting.

/Thundercracker? What are you doing?/ he calls to the Winglord.

Jumping up onto the podium with all the senators around him Thundercracker snarls at the mechs while he bares his dentas showing his deadly fangs.

Unable to comprehend what is happening, the senators just sits there in frozen horror and watches the Winglords display.

Then the Winglord attacks, clawing his way into the delicate armor and baring the insides of the closest grounder. Energon is gushing from the wound as the mech is screaming out his pain. Silencing the mech he sinks his fangs into the delicate neck and with little effort severs the helm from the torso. The dead frame falls clattering to the ground and the helm soon follows.

Uncaring the Winglord carry on to his next victim caught up in a blood rush.

As he grabs the next of the senators the rest tries to get down from the podium. The arriving frame of Skywarp halts their escape and together the two seekers firmly trap the grounders between them and begin their vicious slaughter.

The black and purple seeker had felt his mate’s deadly intent just as Thundercracker had jumped onto the podium, and the following blood rush that filled the Winglord carried through their bond affecting Skywarp.

In tandem they slowly decimate their prey as they attack the senators one by one.

Slashing and sinking their fangs into the weaker frames of the grounders they rip them open and the scene is soon pure carnage with the floor flowing with spilled energon, ripped off limps and dead or dying frames.

As the guards assigned to protect the senators finally make it onto the podium they are faced with the black and purple seeker snarling at them showing his energon dripping fangs as he slowly stalks closer to the intruding grounders. Claws gripping empty air while he moves, he prepares to jump the guards closest to him.

Fear rolls from the guards and the scent is intoxicating to the seeker as Skywarp is caught up in the blood rush and killing frenzy that has taken him over.

Aiming their weapons at the seeker they all open fire and Skywarp is hit by several red laser shots as he advance in on the guards. Panic grips them when the weapons do no damage to the seeker and the seeker just advance in on them. Slowly they retreat while still firing their useless blasters. The dense armor of the seeker only receiving scorching damages as the armor absorbs the blasts.

On the podium Thundercracker baths in the energon of his prey as his fangs sinks into the necks and the claws finds their way into the chests of the remaining senators who has frozen in horror at the scene playing before them.

In all the movements an alert enters his processor and he deftly move to the side sensing the danger with his wings as the arrow with sedation miss. Turning around and narrowing his optics he sees the smoking trigger of the sedation gun held in the hand of a green mech on the upper ring.

Releasing the grounder in his claws and letting the corpse fall to the ground he prepares to take off.

Hound is only saved from deactivation by the Lord High Protector firing on the Winglord with his fusion cannon. The more potent weapon wounds the Winglord, piercing the armor and baring some of the inner wiring of one of the large blue wings. The shot turns the attention from Hound onto Megatron.

Meanwhile Skywarp has killed the guards and returns to the side of his mate, the blood rush is slowly dwindling and the need to kill is fading too. He senses Thundercracker bleeding into their bond again and that the Winglord slowly is leaving the killing frenzy too.

However smelling the scorched plating and the dripping energon of his mate however, he can’t stop the furious growl from escaping his vocalizer as his optics fall on the Lord High Protector.

He instantly recognizes the grounder from the forest and in less than a klik he is onto the mech digging his claws into the midsection of the Lord High Protector. Snarling into the face of his tormentor he prepares to strike for Megatron’s neck.

Before he manages to finish his attack he is ripped from the frame of the Lord High Protector. Snarling at the attacker he is stunned when he realizes that it is Thundercracker that has stopped his attack. Instead of killing the Lord High Protector, Thundercracker has a firm grip around the grounder’s neck and is lifting him from the ground restraining Megatron completely in his grip.

The bestial snarl visible on his face is one of pure hatred as he keeps his hold on the mech.  
He recognizes the mech from the forest just as Skywarp do, wishing no more than to kill the grounder he holds in his servo.

As his grip begins to tighten the snarl on his face grows even more. His optics begins to flicker from orange to red to finally becoming completely red. Grunting he holds on to his anger and hatred while his frame denies listening to the command from his processor to tighten the grip even more and crush the neck of the grounder. The program installed in the Winglord is winning the battle fought between Thundercracker’s wish to kill the Lord High Protector and the prompt activated by the device implanted in the Winglord, which renders Thundercracker unable to kill his master, the Lord High Protector.

At that moment Optimus decides to interfere and tries to tackle the Winglord to the ground and to release its hold on the Lord High Protector.

However even if the Prime is fairly large for a grounder he doesn’t manage to even shake the larger frame of the Winglord, instead he draws attention to himself and finds himself with the black and purple seeker upon his frame, the seeker snarling into his faceplate with energon stained fangs.

Looking into the furious yellow optics of the seeker he is sure that he sees his own death and when he feel the sharp claws penetrate his armor just below where his sparkchamber is, he know he is going to die.

As Skywarp digs his claws further into the frame of the Prime, Thundercracker enraged by his inability to kill the Lord High Protector, flings the grey frame into the nearest wall of the arena with force, causing the wall to crumble and fall upon the unconscious Lord High Protector.

Turning to see what Skywarp is doing, he sees his mate on a red and blue grounder. Somehow the grounder seems to sense the attention of the Winglord, because as Thundercracker studies the pained expression on the faceplate, the grounder turns his head and the optics burns into the Winglords own.

Even with everything that has happened, the blue optics shines with a strange calmness.

Even as Skywarp is digging further into his frame the grounder radiate calm.

Even with all the screaming and movements of panicking grounders; something that spurs every seeker on to hunt, the calmness bleeds into the Winglords frame, filling him from the spark and out, encasing his whole being.

Crocking his helm Thundercracker prods at the feeling spreading and the source from where the calm comes from. It is somehow familiar but he can’t place from where the familiarity comes.

A pained yelp leaves the grounders vocalizer.

Optimus senses when Skywarps claws reaches the sparkchamber, scratching the surface of the protective casing holding his very essence and the Matrix.

Vaguely he hears a strange tone that sounds above all the other noises around him and before he knows it the claws about to snuff out his life is retreating.

Wincing as the claws moves out of the deep wound created in his frame, his vision blanks out from the pain and when his sight returns he is alone on the floor in the arena; the seekers having disappeared in a purple mist that still floats in the air above the arena.

He doesn’t know why the seeker stopped its action and let him live, but he still senses that he isn’t out of danger yet. He can feel the energon in his system flowing from the wound and his life slowly slipping away if he isn’t treated soon.

Not daring to move he don’t know what is going on around him or what happened to Megatron. The only thing he senses is the deafening noise of still screaming mechs trying to get out of the building.

o o o

Iacon, Amphitheater, third ring:

Ratchet and Hound had been stunned like everyone else when the purple mist appeared in the middle of the arena and two frames appeared out of it.

As the larger of the two seekers jumped onto the podium with the senators Ratchet woke from his stupor sensing that what was going to come would be really bad and he felt pity for the mechs on the podium. Beside him Hound took a bit more time to regain his senses at the sight of seekers just appearing out of the thin air.

As the other seeker joined the first when the screaming from the senators began, the tracker began to fiddle with his subspace searching for his sedation gun.

Beside him Ratchet frowned and began to poke to the tracker to get him to move like everyone around them was. Instead Hound just kept searching for the sedation he always had on him in case he met any seeker on his ventures into the forests.

Waiting for whatever Hound is looking for Ratchet watches the guards milling onto the podium only to be held back by the purple seeker.

Then he hear Hound let out a relieved sigh and before he know it Hound has pointed, aimed and fired the sedation gun towards the larger of the two seekers hoping to take it out of the fight and enable the guards to subdue the last.

Unfortunately he sees the seeker freeze before it moves out of the projectiles trajectory in the air and when the arrow clatters useless on the floor of the podium the blue seeker turns and without much difficulty tracks down the source.

Hound finds himself target of the ominous looking optics of the seeker. He can see it preparing to charge towards him and he is frozen on the spot. But a loud purple blast deviate the seekers attention in the last moment and he watches as the seeker turns its attention towards the Lord High Protector.

Now Ratchet yanks him out of his state and slaps him in the face.

“What were you thinking?!! You could have gotten us all killed. Now come on!” the medic scolds.

Dragging the tracker with him, he gets them moving.

But instead of panicking like most others around him he firmly guides Hound through secret passages he know from his own time as a senator when he had been down in the arena with the rest of the senators at that time. They had learned of every escape route if anything bad should happen. Now that knowledge came in handy and he easily steered the tracker through the narrow passageways.

“Where are we going?” Hound asks in the eerie darkness.

“We are taking the direct route down there. No matter what this ends up with someone is going to need help.” Ratchet explains as his medical coding is screaming at him. Fleeing is not an option in his mind.

Coming down the last passageway and going into the chamber behind the door in the southern part of the building from where the Prime had entered, they sense a shaking in the structure.

Opening the door slightly the medic peeks into the arena and instantly sees the reason for the shaking; the wall on the opposite side has crumbled.

Searching the area before him he sees the two seekers have moved from the podium with the senators and has gone to the platforms of the Lord High Protector and Prime.

Megatron is nowhere to be seen, but when his optics land on the Prime he can see the seeker upon the red and blue mech digging its claws into the midsection.

Discreetly scanning the Prime from the distance he begins to determine what triage he will have to do when the seekers leave and if they let the Prime live.

With all the carnage visible on the senators’ podium he can’t stop thinking about Starscream back home. All this mess is only made by two seekers.

Returning to the scene playing out in front of him he watches as the black and purple seeker withdraws from the Prime and moves towards the blue seeker. With a mist of purple the seekers is gone as easily as they arrived.

Waiting a precious breem to be sure the coast is clear, he finally throw the door open and transforms into his altmode, hurrying into the center of the arena and the clearly dying Prime. The ground if filled with the energon running freely from the deep and open wound.

To his surprise the Prime is awake. It causes relief to enter his spark, since that is a good sign.

Hearing Hound coming up behind him he wastes no time in ordering Hound to contact Firstaid back at the medbay. He needs more tools than he has on him and he needs his bay prepared for the heavy surgery that the Prime needs.

Of course the Prime had his own private medic to take care of him, but in this crisis they needed to act fast and couldn’t wait for the medic to arrive.

As Hound activated his comm. Ratchet begin to inspect the wound, closing of the visibly leaking energon lines. Measuring the depth of the wound he realize how deep the seeker had went into the internals of the Prime and begins to open the chestplates to get a view of the sparkchamber.

As the two plates opens he curses. He can see the wiring is jumbled all up to the sparkchamber and fears that he is dealing with a penetrated chamber that exposes the spark.

Continuing sealing leaking energon lines he slows the flow with which the Prime would bleed out and buys them precious time, while enabling them to move the heavily injured mech.

Done with the comm., Hound returns to the medic feeling useless.

Not able to look at the Prime as Ratchet works he looks around at the surroundings and a frown enters his faceplates.

‘Is that?’ he wonders.

Walking towards the crumbled wall, dread slowly grows.

Finally recognizing a frame among the debris, he gasps. He easily recognizes the Lord High Protectors larger grey frame.

“RATCHET!” he yells to the medic.

Looking up Ratchet looks to him to see what causes him to yell. As Hound points towards the debris he slowly recognizes the frame of a mech.

Cursing he resumes his work on the Prime, working more frantic to seal of the lines and secure the safety of the injured mech before he leaves him to assess the damage to what can only be the Lord High Protector.

As he has done what triage he can do on the spot and is about to move towards the Lord High Protector guards is finally coming into the arena.

Scowling at the late arriving mechs, Ratchet halts whatever the guards intend to do and orders them to secure the Prime is transported to his medbay instantly. He emphasize the order with a heated glare as one of the guards is about to argue that the Prime needs to see his own medic.

“He has lost almost all the energon inside him, might have a cracked sparkchamber and has a large wound going through his whole torso. He doesn’t have time for you to argue!” Ratchet growls in anger.

As the guards solemnly begins to transport the Prime out of the arena Ratchet hurry to join Hound at the wall. The tracker has used the time to clear the prone frame of the debris, freeing the injured to let Ratchet gauge his damages.

“Hound I need you to inform Firstaid that the Prime is on his way to him. Tell him to set up energon drips and seal what leaks I might have overlooked. Then please contact you superior. I need to have the Primes medic join me at the medbay. With two heavily injured I need help, and Firstaid isn’t yet competent enough to stand with this kind of injuring.” He tells the tracker as he runs a scan of the Lord High Protector.

As he receives the result he curses.

Visibly the mech doesn’t seem that much injured beyond the wound in his midsection, but the scan reveals countless leaking lines throughout the whole frame. The Lord High Protector is bleeding out from the inside.

At the time he just ignores the open wound in the abdomen, and just seals the visibly leaking lines before he begins to remove the armor of the mech to get to the energon lines hidden under it. Soon Megatron looks nothing like himself ridden of all his protection and the true damage is revealed. As each armor plate is removed more and more energon is gushing from the frame and a large pool of the mechs own life fluids gathers on the ground.

Looking at the true injury Ratchet realizes that the Lord High Protector is even more injured than the Prime, with every large energon line in his torso damaged. Beyond the leaking lines major structures has been damaged by the impact with the wall and the following debris landing on the mech.

The backstrut is completely severed, having taken the largest brunt of the initial damage at the hit with the wall, while the legs are broken here and there by the falling debris on the structures. Beyond that the helm is heavily dented and by the depths of some of the dents he knows that there inevitably is damage to the processor and CPU.

As he withdraws his soldering tool from subspace to begin to seal the complicated injuries to allow for transport Hound crouch down beside him.

“Firstaid is ready in the medbay. He is preparing two berths with intensive monitoring and is prepared to receive the Prime. Prowl is contacting the Prime’s medic at the moment to send him to your medbay. Anything you need my help with?” Hound asks while he studies the vulnerable bared frame of the Lord High Protector.

“I need you to get the guards to clear a path for me to get the Lord High Protector out of here. I am not leaving him in the hands of others. He is so severely damaged that I will need to carry him myself. Luckily without his armor he is able to fit inside my altmode.” Ratchet explains without stopping in his work.

Several breems later Megatron was stabilized as much as the medic was able to at the moment and Ratchet slowly rose from the ground. Having been crouched over the frame for more than half a cycle working, he looked at all the soldering and knew that almost every line in the Lord High Protector needed replacement.

Looking to Hound he nodded and watched the tracker come closer with a group of guards.

Transforming, Ratchet waited for them to gingerly place Megatron inside him.

As the doors closed, sealing the Lord High Protector securely inside the ambulance, Ratchet took off with his sirens blaring.

Coming up behind the now empty podium that had held the nobles, he entered through the large exit hidden there.

Exiting the building completely Hound joined Ratchet in his frantic drive, making sure that no one accidentally rammed into the ambulance as it tore down the roads.

The travel that had taken cycles for them when they were going towards the amphitheater was made in less than ten breems. As Ratchet arrived before his medbay several guards was stationed there showing heavy arms. Not one blaster was in sight, instead the guards was armed with weaponry carrying bullets able to take down the seekers.

Moving the Lord High Protector from his alt mode, the guards gingerly placed the mech on a gurney they had had ready, and when Ratchet transforms they move swiftly into the building.

Loud murmuring could be heard from the medbay and as the doors opened Ratchet was greeted by the sight of Firstaid working with the Prime’s medic to inspect the possible damage to the sparkchamber.

Rushing to the other berth, Ratchet ordered the guards to place Megatron there and then told them to leave. They needed room to work and maneuver around in the delicate internals of the injured.

As the last guard left the medbay Ratchet firmly locked the doors not wanting anyone to disturb them in their work.

o o o

Somewhere in the Northern hemisphere of the planet:

A spot several hundred meters up in the air began to boil with charged energy and just as a large pop resounded, purple mist appeared on the spot.

As the mist slowly vanished two seekers was left hovering in the air, one blue, one black and purple.

In their servos two unwilling grounders still fought valiantly for what they were sure were their life. The seekers however had yet to do any damage to them.

Thundercracker and Skywarp had left the arena of the amphitheater to teleport to the outskirts of Iacon, where they happened to be spotted by the two grounders. The fighting in the arena with the killing of the senators had awoken a new aspect in them both.

The Winglord now finally understood why the oldest of the seekers now and then grumbled about his restriction on them hunting the grounders.

Unconsciously he liked his lips.

Tasting the still lingering energon from the grounders they had slaughtered he savored the taste letting out a satisfied purr.

He had never imagined that the foul smelling grounders could hold such a treat as their energon were.

To make you understand what the seeker had discovered, take how the grounders think about their high-grade energon and then triple the delicious taste. That is how good the grounders’ life fluids taste to the seekers. It was literally intoxicating!

And Thundercracker had denied his people this treat for all this time.

That was why the seekers now carried a grounder each.

It actually was the grounders’ own fault that they ended up in the servos of the seekers. Had they just stayed still and silent nothing more would have come of it and the two seekers would just have carried on back to their people.

But they had run. And they had screamed.

What more did the seekers need to trigger their hunting instinct?

Not able to outrun seekers intent on hunting them down the grounders had easily fallen prey to the two seekers and found themselves taken to the air.

Then Skywarp had teleported them away from the alerted surroundings intent on keeping his prey.

And now they were here, somewhere else, somewhere undisturbed and isolated.

It was the perfect spot to savor their treats.

Landing Thundercracker gripped the mech in his servo around the neck, finally silencing his prey and let his olfactory sensors explore the scent. It wasn’t so bad when you knew what lay just beneath that delicate surface of metal.

Beside him Skywarp had wasted no time in indulging himself in his treat, one of the wrists ripped from its socket and the fluids inside the metal frame flowing in a steady stream into his mouth and an expression of delight spreading on his face.

The grounder still conscious groaned as the fluids left his frame, the severed wrist also hurting him a lot, but the complaining sounds was completely ignored by the seeker. For once the seekers didn’t kill. Skywarp was clever enough to know that to get all the energon out of his prey he needed the prey to pump it out of its frame and that was only possible if it was alive.

Humming in satisfaction Thundercracker decided to mirror his mate and soon he was enjoying the delicate flavor of the grounder as the fluid left the frame in his servos.

As their tanks was filled more and more with the delicious energon, the flow from their prey still continued, and when their systems informed them that their tanks was finally full, the energon still flowed freely.

As prey a grounder would be enough to feed a trine completely, compared to the critters the seekers hunted usually.

And it wasn’t custom for the seekers to fill their tanks completely, they just hunted when their systems told that they needed to and stopped when they had satisfied the need in the systems.

This fact caused a strange occurring to happen to Thundercracker and Skywarp, who both never had had tanks this full of energon.

Their systems negating any more consumption, the energon flowing into their mouths ran over and spilled down their frames covering them completely in the fuel.

A piteous whine left Skywarps vocalizer as he realized that his systems couldn’t take more of the wonderful tasting fuel. Solemnly looking at the dazed looking grounder who had been relieved of half his life fluids a pout entered the face of the black and purple seeker.

Thundercracker being larger than his mate had been able to drink more of the fuel than his mate, and the grounder held in his servo was unconscious from the loss of energon from his systems. The Winglord had realized the same as Skywarp, that the fuel he drank didn’t enter his systems.

Without much thought he ripped the lifeless frame to shreds and let the parts fall to the ground where a large pool gathered of the rest of the energon that had been in the frame.

Looking at Skywarp he smiled as he strode over to his mate.

The surroundings felt strange and his wings were buzzing so strangely.

The black and purple seeker was still pouting at his prey and didn’t see the Winglord coming at him, lost in his own little world.

Only when Thundercracker let out a warbled purr behind him did Skywarp acknowledge the others presence. Then with a firm grip Thundercracker took the grounder out of the servos of the black and purple seeker and ripped it open, letting the energon gushing out onto the ground soon joined by the frame itself.

About to complain Skywarp turns to growl at his mate, his irritation bleeding into their bond.

However he is silenced as Thundercracker lifts his frame from the ground and presses his face into the black plating.

About to tell the Winglord to let him down, he is once more silenced as Thundercrackers glossa flicks over his plating, tasting the spilled energon staining his mate.

Soon the gesture causes the glossa to travel every part it is able to reach and when the blue seeker finds he is unable to reach new areas stained with energon, he places his mate on the ground before he begins to travel the whole black and purple frame with his glossa savoring the taste while his tanks can’t hold more.

Squirming under the ministrations made to his frame Skywarp sense his core temperature rising. As Thundercracker moves to clean his wings of the fluids he can’t hold back the moan of pleasure, and the feeling of the glossa on his sensitive plating sends tingling sensations through his whole frame. He is aware of the heat pooling in his valve as Thundercracker continue licking the wings.

As Thundercracker looks down at Skywarp, done cleaning his mate of the energon, he is greeted by glowing yellow optics spelling so much need that his spark almost skips a pulse.

His head lowering, he nuzzles the neck of the black and purple seeker, nibbling carefully at the wires located there.

However movements from Skywarp jostle him enough for the Winglord to lose his balance and Skywarp succeed in toppling the Winglord from his frame, and Thundercracker falls to the ground with a thud beside the black and purple seeker.

Skywarp not wasting the time is on top of the Winglord less than a klik later, grinning deviously down at his mate.

As Skywarp lowers his head towards Thundercracker, the blue seeker lets out a warning growl.

But the growl is silenced abruptly when Skywarps glossa connects with the heated plating of the Winglord. Humming, the black and purple seeker reciprocates in kind like Thundercracker had just done to him, licking the blue frame clean of any energon.

Exploring the large frame with his glossa as he cleans it of the fluids, he is greeted with sounds of pleasure with every stroke he makes with it.

Licking down the large blue frame Skywarp soon reaches the more delicate part of the Winglord; his pelvic plating.

Unaware of the highly sensitivity to that particular place on Thundercracker, he decides to lick the seams between the hips and the pelvis. As his glossa begins its travel into one of the seams the blue seeker can’t stop his frame from buckling at the strong sensations filling his frame, and his spike painfully begin to throb behind its cover. Looking up, Skywarp has a curious look on his face, however it soon deviate to one of mischief as he locks optics with Thundercracker as he lowers his face to the plating once more, littering the pelvic plating with small flickers of his glossa all around the seams.

The small spikes of sensation shooting through his frame wreak havoc in Thundercrackers mind and he isn’t able to do anything but feel what his mate is doing to him. Digging his claws into the ground beneath him he finds a little leverage in the merciless onslaught Skywarp is forcing upon him.

A particular lick however shatters any control the Winglord has left and when Skywarp slowly ghosts his glossa over the cover protecting the spike, the cover slides open.

A groan of pleasure is forced from Thundercrackers vocalizer as the spike rises and pressurize.

Shocked Skywarp has reared back. He has never seen the spike before. A seekers spike or valve is one of the very most delicate parts of the whole frame and holds great importance.

In a society with so much violence accepted among the people it is only natural to protect the more delicate parts from harm.

That is why the pelvic plating is one of the thickest plates on the whole frame of the seeker and the cover protecting either spike or valve is lined flush with the plating surrounding it, making it almost impossible to accidently or on purpose remove it. During mating the spike and valve is only bared when the mating itself is to occur and no klik before. Afterwards the cover slide back and protects the delicate parts once more few kliks after the spike has withdrawn from the valve.

This is why Skywarp never has seen the spike of his mate before and know very little of his own valve. It is all coding and programmed into them to protect their reproduction arrays.

Now however Skywarps ministrations has caused Thundercrackers spike to extend, as the sensations coursing through the blue frame has triggered the opening, registering that the Winglord is more than ready to take his mate.

This bypass of normal custom is simply because of the effect their full tanks have had on their systems. Thundercracker has become complacent, his dominant coding suppressed by chemical reactions in his processor or CPU due to the large consumption of energon. His awareness is slowed, his systems becoming oversensitive and processing the incoming data differently.

Looking from the extended spike and into the smoldering optics of the Winglord, Skywarp almost drown in the lust and need that fills the orange orbs.

Then his optics travels back to the spike standing proud before him, oozing with pre-fluids. Tentatively he reaches a claw towards the member and curiously touches it, causing Thundercracker to elicit a moan of pleasure.

The deeply needy tone in Thundercrackers voice does strange things to Skywarp. He feels his core temperature increase a large notch while the heat behind his valve cover becomes too painful and the cover releases letting the gathered lubricant gushing out of his valve.

The scent of the lubricant is so strong on Thundercrackers olfactory sensors that Skywarp only gets the bright flash in the orange optics as warning before Thundercracker has a firm grip on him. Before the black and purple seeker knows it, the Winglord has impaled him on the spike, and Skywarp is slowly descending down onto it.

Keening as his nodes in the valve is stimulated by the intruding spike; the black and purple seeker flares his wings widely as the large expanses on his back trembles from the sensation as the spike is filling him completely.  
Caught up in pure lust and need for his mate Thundercracker moves the frame of the smaller seeker rapidly onto his spike, grinding forcefully into the warm and welcome valve surrounding it. A shriek of ecstasy leaves Skywarps vocalizer as he is molested by his mate, the pleasure coursing through his frame tinged with just the right amount of pain to make it a heady combination of sensations.

Unable to control his own frame as Thundercracker continue thrusting up into his valve the black and purple seeker meets the movements of his mate, forcing his valve down onto the large spike and as more and more of his sensor nodes is stimulated his frame begins to tremble. Thundercracker still having a firm grip on the hips of the smaller seeker and holding Skywarp taut, is encouraged by the movements of his mate, and begins to pull the black and purple seeker onto his spike as he continuously thrust deep into his mate while groaning and grunting in pleasure.

The valve stretching at the intrusions allows for the spike to go deeper and deeper with every thrust and soon Thundercracker hits as deep as the deepest nodes in his mates valve. The result is a particular high-pitched keen just before Skywarp arches his back violently, his wings becoming completely still and stiff on his back and his vocalizer abruptly frizzing out, only spelling static. In the valve Thundercracker senses the impossible thigh contractions around his spike as he continues forcing his member into his mate. 

Taking in the sight of his mates taut stiff frame above him, energy cackling throughout the beautiful black and purple plating Thundercracker is lost in the sight. Never has Skywarp been more beautiful than in that moment. Moments later the valve lessens its hold on the spike and Thundercracker is able to move more freely in the slick valve of his mate, just as he watches the frame above him slowly slump from its tight position.

He transmits his feelings and sensations through their bond and as Skywarp online his optics they lock with the Winglords. The lust in them has not lessened a bit and they are looking faintly dazed. Receiving Skywarps answer to his pulse in the bond, he is caught off-guard as the deep feelings flood his spark. The feelings transmitted between them together with the sensations in his frame as he continue fragging his mate, Thundercracker is taken by surprise as his optics register light glowing down at him. Looking up at Skywarp he is greeted by the open chestplates and the bared spark of his mate. Need filling him from Skywarps part of the bond; he can’t deny his mate what he need.

Allowing his own chestplates to part and reveal his sparkchamber he continue starring into the beautiful yellow optics of his mate and with rapt attention watches the smaller frame slowly descend upon his own, letting their open chests connect and for their sparks to merge. This time however Thundercracker isn’t leaving his own frame completely as he has gotten used to. He is aware of his frame still thrusting into Skywarp as he floats in pure bliss at their connection. He is also able to feel what Skywarp feels when he thrusts into the smaller seeker and gasps at the foreign sensations echoing to him from the impaled valve. 

Hearing Skywarp letting out gasps and moans of his own Thundercracker realizes that Skywarp is going through some of the same sensations as himself, just the smaller seeker is sensing what stimulus Thundercracker gets from his spike when he thrusts into the black and purple seekers valve.

Drinking in the sensations he gets from Skywarp, Thundercracker adds those to the feelings from his spike and his charge is rising violently. His spike beginnings to throb painfully as he keep going fragging his mate deeply, and subconsciously he knows that any klik he is going to overload. The realization is sensed by Skywarp and in their merging the black and purple seeker pushes all his feelings towards his mate, firmly enveloping Thundercracker in the unconditional affection he has for the Winglord.

At Skywarps action, the Winglord finally breaks and in their merged sparks Skywarp feels the energy violently building in Thundercrackers midsection, for moments later to settle behind the pressurized spike. In the physical world Thundercracker makes one final thrust, grinding the black and purple seeker down forcefully on his spike and holding them like that as his spike releases its content into the valve, filling it with his transfluids in several pained jets from the spike.

The feeling of his mate overloading both in spark and in his valve throws the black and purple seeker over another edge and as the scorching fluids from his mate’s spike stimulates his deepest nodes in the valve and alight them with sensations he screams wordlessly in their connection, his mind lost in the feeling.

Every ounce of energy in his frame spent Skywarp just lays on top of Thundercracker as their sparks disconnect at the overloads. Sensing the completely sated feeling traveling through the bond from Skywarp, Thundercracker can’t stop the laughter erupting from his vocalizer. His dominant coding is more than pleased with the fact that he efficiently managed to blow out his mate’s mind.

::Shush you.::

The voice traveling their bond silences the Winglord instantly.

He feels the same shock at the voice coming from Skywarp.

Looking up he meets the puzzled optics of his mate.

Then a deeply fondness fills his spark and a smile forms on his faceplate. Moments later seeing the same smile forming on Skywarps lips, he wraps the part in his spark that is Skywarp in all the affection he feels for the seeker.

::Mine:: he tentatively tries to voice in their bond and the smile grows as he see the affirmation in his mate that the word came through.

::Yours.:: follows shortly after from Skywarp.

Hugging Skywarp closer to his frame he savors their deepening connection.

o o o

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay:

When Ratchet finally unlocked the doors to the medbay seven cycles had passed.

It had taken five cycles for the Prime’s medic with the assistance of Firstaid now and then to repair the Prime and the mech was still under the effect of the medical induced stasis he had been put in as he had arrived to the medbay.

He would stay like that for one orn before they dared to let him wake up. His systems needed the rest and to slowly accept the new parts that had been installed.

Fortunately the seeker hadn’t caused any sparkchamber injury even if they had spotted where the seekers claws had scratched the surface of the protective chamber.

The Prime had truly been lucky coming out of it alive.

As the Prime was repaired and stable the medic had gone to help Ratchet with the more complicated surgery performed on the Lord High Protector.

Together the repair of Megatron had taken them seven cycles with Ratchet working alone the five of them. 

The work had been dragged that long because almost every line as Ratchet had predicted needed to be replaced. The soldering would weaken the lines and with so much soldering done to the whole net of energon lines sustaining the Lord High Protector it had been safer to replace them all. The work in doing so was slow and tedious.

As the Lord High Protector had been rewired and the structural damages repaired the only part left was his helm. Ratchet had with great care buffed out the dents, careful not to damage the insides of it more than it already was.

With the day he had had he didn’t dare to touch the delicate wiring inside the helm, instead he made sure that the damage the Lord High Protector had sustained to his CPU and processor didn’t worsen.

Ratchet needed his full energy to be dealing with the delicate repairs to avoid any mistakes. One little mistake as he worked on the processor or the CPU could kill the mech or simply cause the mech to never wake from the stasis his frame had put him in at the injury.

It was a satisfied Ratchet that with a little smile on his lips nodded to the other medic. Then he went to unlock the door to tell the waiting mechs outside the news.

Glancing back at Firstaid before he opened the doors, he gestured the mech to come with him. Firstaid might as well learn to relay the results of the surgery. After all, the medic in training had been of great help assisting the two medics as they worked to save the injured.

The initial grouchiness that he had had when he had been assigned the medic in training had completely vanished as Firstaid showed his cunning in his work and prowess to foresee what the medics might need.

Opening the doors he and Firstaid greeted the waiting mechs prepared to tell the good news that the Lord High Protector and Prime had survived, but also the bad news about the state of the Lord High Protectors CPU and processor.

To determine if the Lord High Protector would come out of it all undamaged they would have to wait for the results from the examination of the damage in the helm.

Tires Ratchet left Firstaid to deal with the questions that might be asked to prepare for the needed recharge. The whole orn had been busy and his reserves were running low.

It would be good to relax with the knowledge that any complications that might arose would be dealt with by the other medic and Firstaid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review.:)


	17. Chapter 17

Forest in the northern hemisphere:

As Thundercracker wakes from the very much needed recharge that had occurred not long after their shared overload, he is greeted by a rather embarrassing sensation. Their systems powering down as they had, he hadn’t withdrawn his spike from Skywarps valve, and now feels the lax walls of his mate now and then touching his spike. It causes sensations to shoot through him and slowly the spike, less pressurized than it would be when mating, rises to its full capacity.

Onlining his optics he sees that the black and purple seeker is still far gone in recharge and don’t register the rising arousal in the Winglord as they are lying there, with Skywarp snuggled into the plating of the blue seeker.

Groaning Thundercracker tries to depressurize his spike to let it return behind its cover. Sometimes it is possible to do such, however rather painful, but this time his frame refuses to listen to him.

His ire is growing as Skywarp begins to move, clearly sensing the distress Thundercracker projects through their bond. The movements cause the valve to ripple, massaging his spike and sending further stimulus to his processor.

Unable to stifle his arousal anymore the blue wings begins to tremble with the lust rising.

Embracing the smaller seeker with his arms, Thundercracker cradles Skywarp to his frame as he begin to move his hips, stimulating his spike in the slow motions the movements makes in and out of the black and purple frame. As he moves the valve begins to slowly lubricate with fresh fluids, replacing the sticky substance that the mix of the lubricants and the transfluids had made from their joining cycles prior. The fresh lubricant makes the movements into the valve easier and the friction with the valve walls less.

While he frags the unaware Skywarp, Thundercracker wonder why he don’t just roll over and frags the sense out of his mate. Why had he let Skywarp be on top at their joining cycles ago? What had happened?

Recalling the time before they went into recharge, he recalls the delicious taste of the grounder’s energon. Then he remembers how complacent he had been when Skywarp had shifted them around, ending with the submissive on top. Frowning at the memory he forces his spike more violently into his mate as his coding stirs at the memory. What had been wrong with him? Why had he been like that?

When the sparkmerge enters his mind, he once more feels the coding protest at the lax acceptance he had had to allow the submissive to initiate the merge, being on top. A growl leaves his vocalizer and he releases his embracing grip on the black and purple seeker, reaching down and grabs onto the black hips, forcing the still lax frame of his mate up and down his spike as he now thrusts into Skywarp.

Growling out a groan in pleasure as he takes his mate, now completely uncaring if Skywarp wakes up, one last memory enters his mind as he hunts his overload.

The memory is taking him by surprise as he recalls their moment where the sparkbond has developed enough to allow them to communicate through it. The feelings and sensations flooding his mind again his overload happens then and there, and he roars out his release, filled with the deep affections Skywarp shared with him before their recharge.

As the transfluids fills his valve Skywarp jolts from his recharge looking around in confusion. Then he lets out a groan of his own when he feels the spike slowly leaving his valve. Looking down at Thundercracker, Skywarp can’t stop the smile from forming on his lips when he sees the sated look in the orange orbs.

Strictly following his coding Thundercracker rolls them and lays heavily on the smaller seeker, wasting no time in restricting the fuel line in the neck as he growls out a warning. Skywarp has been too relaxed and he needs to know who the dominant between them is.

Yelping, Skywarp widens his optics as Thundercracker rolls them around and when the weight of the larger seeker settles on his frame the air is pressed out of him. Feeling the sharp fangs of his mate grace his vulnerable fuel lines as the Winglord stops the flow of the fuel, he whimpers weakly, not knowing what he has done. Nevertheless he bares his neck further showing proper submission to the dominant, hoping that whatever has triggered his mate to discipline him is mended by his willingness to submit.

::MINE!:: Thundercracker growls in their bond, his optics narrowing as he waits for Skywarp to respond, the pressure on the fuel line increasing.

::Yours.:: Skywarp yelps, feeling Thundercracker nicking his fuel line as the Winglord adds further pressure to it. His spark is pulsing fast at the feeling of the anger Thundercracker sends through the bond with his words.

Feeling panic slowly growing in his mate Thundercracker abruptly releases his hold on the line and moves away from the smaller seeker as he is standing. His anger is rising and with a roar he flats several trees with his claws. In the meantime Skywarp just lies on the grounder watching Thundercracker as the Winglord deals out punishment on the tress around them. The panic in his spark becomes fear as he watches the rage that is consuming the Winglord, without knowing what is going on.

/Thundercracker?/ he whimpers, not sure it is a good idea to remind his mate of his presence.

Turning around as abruptly as he had released his hold on his mate, Thundercracker faces the trembling black and purple seeker, his optics shining with hatred and the desire to kill.

Then as instantly as the rage had taken hold of him, the Winglord deflates at the sight of the fear in Skywarps optics. Defeated, his knees gives up and he slump to the ground, his arms and servos as slack as the rest of his frame.

/I couldn’t do it. I’m- I’m useless!/ he whispers, head bowed, his optics focused on the ground.

Gathering himself together, Skywarp crawls to the slumped form of his mate. The posture of the Winglord shows so much pain that he can’t ignore it. Crawling as close to Thundercracker as he is able to, curling into the space between the larger seeker’s legs he tries to comfort his mate. However the blue seeker wants none of it. Letting out a piteous whine Thundercracker denies himself the comfort given by the other seeker and moves away from the smaller frame.

Looking up, puzzled at the actions of his mate, Skywarp crawls to the blue seeker once more, settling down and curls into the blue frame again. As Thundercracker is about to move once more, he digs a claw into one of the seams, stopping the blue seeker from moving away.

::Yours.:: Skywarp press through their bond.

/Unworthy. I’m unworthy. Couldn’t protect you. Couldn’t revenge you. Couldn’t kill./ Thundercracker says out loud.

Looking up from where he is curled into the blue frame, Skywarp sees Thundercracker desperately looking at his claws like he have never seen them before and their bond fills with the confusion the Winglord feels at his frames betrayal of his actions.

Understanding dawning, he realizes what is plaguing the Winglord.

His own anger rising as he recall the grey grounder from the forest that Thundercracker stopped him from killing in the ciamp of the grounders, as he was digging his claws into it to extract his revenge. He wonders what the grounder did to his mate while they were captured.

To see the WINGLORD this defeated, he is certain that the grounder has done something to his mate. The satisfaction in participating in the killing of the grounders slowly leaves him as the fact that the grey grounder is still alive enters his mind. That grounder needed to die, for all the seekers’ sake.

/It will die! We WILL kill it./ he tells the blue seeker, a rare growl leaving his vocalizer. Sending his feelings he hopes to fill Thundercracker with his own burning rage.

Determination, will, anger and deep affection filling him from Skywarp, Thundercracker slowly leaves the depressed state he had entered and when he looks up, the optics has lost their look of defeat and some of the well-known hardness has entered them.

::Mine.:: he communicate, this time as he looks into Skywarps optics and relay as much devotion for the other through them as through their bond. Then he rises from the ground, cradling and supporting Skywarp as he does so.

It was time to rejoin with their people. They had some important news to share with the clan leaders. And he would enjoy the chance to tell his creators that their bond had developed enough to allow them to communicate. It seemed the sparkmerges had done a lot more than just healing.

Taking flight not a breem later Skywarp followed Thundercracker south towards their home.

Cycles later landing in the camp of the Swiftstrike clan, the two are instantly crowded by seekers welcoming them back.

Kliks later a path clears in the crowed, allowing ‘Swiftstrike’ and the carrier through.

/Where have you been?/ the carrier asks, worriedly. The Winglord had left without anyone knowing and they hadn’t been able to find any trace of the blue seeker or his mate.

/We have news for everyone. However where we have been… We have been visiting a grounder clan./ Thundercracker proclaims loudly. Leaving the large group of seekers he indicates for his creators to follow him.

Reaching a less crowded area, Thundercracker begins to explain what had happened and about the urge that had compelled him to leave the clan. Then he tells about his meeting with Skywarp in the forest before he took off and the offer from his mate to join him and about their travel and the arrival at the grounder clan; how they had killed some of the grounders there and nearly managed to kill the grey grounder responsible for Skywarps torture. At the last part some hardness has entered his tone, the bitterness at his own shortcoming showing there too.

During it all, the elder seekers just look at them warily, the carrier showing signs of fear for her creation and his mate.

Then Thundercracker decides to throw the last shock at the elder seekers.

/I have decided to give the hunt on the grounders free for every seeker under my rule. Do you support me?/ he asks his creator.

Looking at the blue and yellow carrier for a moment, ‘Swiftstrike’ then returns his optics to his creation and gauges the seriousness he sees in the orange optics. Thinking for some time, he then finally nods in agreement.

/Yes. I support you, Thundercracker./ he agrees.

/Thank you, ‘Swiftstrike’./ Thundercracker nods before he rises to go and announce his decision to the rest of the seekers in the clan, and to let the news spread to every one of the clans.

When the decision is voiced out aloud to the clan the younger seekers just looks interested at the chance to hunt bigger prey, whereas the optics of the elder seekers who still remember the taste of grounder energon gains a new burning glow to them.

The grounder clans around the forests would from this moment face a great danger from the seekers.

o o o

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay:

With a groan Ratchet onlines from his recharge as his chronometer informs him that he has been recharging for fourteen cycles and that it is early in the new orn. Onlining his optics he is greeted with darkness.

Before he raises from the berth he carefully reach down at his side, and yes he had been right.

Starscream lay there, still in recharge and snuggled into his side. Looking down at the seeker, activating his optic light at the lowest degree he watch the little figure. A smile creeps onto his lips as he sees that the little seekerlet has one of his claws in his mouth and is gnawing it in his recharge.

“I wonder what has fallen prey to you, little one.” He muses as he watches the seekerlet chewing noisily on the claw.

However he has no time to muse on that, he has a patient waiting for him.

Gingerly lifting the recharging seekerlet, he moved Starscream so he could find warmth at Hound when the medic was gone. That way he was sure that the seekerlet wouldn’t wake in an unfortunate moment. It had been troublesome enough to hide him the previously orn when their home had been invaded by so many mechs. After the attack by the seekers, he was sure that Starscream would be deactivated if anyone found out he existed.

With a sigh he looked at the recharging pair on the berth before he exited the berth room and went to see how their patients had fared during the night cycle.

Opening the door to the medbay and looking into the darkness he could hear the monitors slowly blipping announcing that everything at the moment was good with the two patients in there. Turning on the light he saw with his own optics that indeed the Prime still laid calmly on the berth to the left, his vitals all within the parameters. Satisfied he went to the berth to the right, holding the Lord High Protector.

Looking at the special monitor he had hooked the grey mech to, showing the work of the processor, he opened the log to see if there had been any signals to detect that would suggest that the Lord High Protector still was salvageable.

Scrolling through the advance program he was pleased to see several large spikes occurring now and then as well as smaller more frequent ones. It seemed that there was still activity in the processor which was a good sign.

Satisfied he began to find the delicate tools he needed to repair the delicate circuitry and wiring inside the helm. As he went to one of the cabinets, the door to the medbay opened, and as he turned he saw Firstaid coming towards him.

Smiling he gestured the medic in training closer.

“Good to see you Firstaid.” He greeted.

“Sir. I was wondering if I could be of any help?” the medic in training asked.

The work in the helm would be his alone, but Firstaid would be of great help getting the tools for him when he began the work in saving the Lord High Protectors mind.

“If you don’t mind, I could use your help in handing me the tools when I need them. I am afraid there won’t be much tutoring in this surgery however. I need my concentration in this.” Ratchet explained.

Firstaid just nodded in understanding. Processor surgery was far beyond where he was at the moment in his education. It would only be an option if he chose to go into the specialization. Still it would be educational to watch Ratchet perform the surgery.

As Ratchet told him which tools he still needed to find to perform the final examination Firstaid went and found them and gingerly placed them on one of the traces. Thoughtful he added a trace to disinfect the used tools, just in case Ratchet would need to use some more times.

As the equipment was prepared Ratchet showed the medic in training how you gained access into the delicate circuitry, which in the case of the Lord High Protector was hidden behind a helm protected by another more reinforced helm.

The fact that Megatron had sustained damage to the delicate circuitry was a sign of how strong and powerful the seeker had been when it flung the Lord High Protector into the wall. If the Lord High Protector hadn’t had the reinforced helm, the mech would have died instantly from the severe damage that would have occurred on the circuitry.

Releasing the hatches holding the outer helm in place he removed it to reveal a more common helm shaped face. The sign of the Lord High Protectors origin as a miner was visible in the strange finials hidden away by the outer helm.

Before Ratchet released the final hatch that would let him gain access to the inside of the Lord High Protector, he showed Firstaid the careful performed disinfection of servos and arms, the procedure repeated several times with great care to clean the joints of everything that could end up messing with the circuitry.

In every other surgery he would just need to disinfect his servos and arms, since the rest of their frame could handle tiny grainy metals entering the wounds, but the delicate circuitry he was about to work with, could malfunction with just a tiny grain of metal touching it.

Ready to begin, Firstaid found the special chair that would allow a relaxed position for the medic to work at, allowing his whole concentration on the task ahead.

Opening the hatch by applying the medical coding Ratchet put the released piece of metal on the trace and Firstaid handed him some of the smallest tweezers he had ever seen. How the medic was able to handle them was an awed mystery for the medic in training.

Silence commenced in the medbay, with only the calming blips of the monitors disturbing the silence.

Ratchet had a deep frown on his face as he worked, poking and pinching in the helm. Now and then he would hand the used tools to the medic in training and ask for one of the tools on the trace.

As time went by and the frown grew Firstaid sensed that something troubled Ratchet. The medic didn’t show much emotion usually, but Firstaid had begun to understand his facial expressions and deduce any results from them.

Then with a deep sigh Ratchet moved away from the helm, removing any tools from the delicate wiring.

Handing the medic the disinfected plating to cover the helm and protect the circuitry once more, Firstaid awaited Ratchets result.

Rubbing his face Ratchet groans in frustration.

“It is a complete mess. I am surprised he even still functions with all that damage.” The medic explains as he sees Firstaid’s interested look.

“The worst part is his personality component. It has taken the largest damage, but the rest of the wiring is jumbled so much that to get to the damaged part I have to mess even more around with them. And I am not sure I am able to repair all the damage to the component. He might live, but he won’t be the same.” He elaborates, the frown returning to his face.

“Find us some cubes of energon then I will begin to find the tools I will need. We have to refuel before we continue to the repairs. Oh, and find yourself a chair, this is going to take time.” Ratchet carry on explaining, before he rises from the chair and begins to clear the trace of the tools they have used and disinfects them.

With a nod to the back of the medic Firstaid leaves the medbay to get them some energon.  
Returning with the fuel, they both sit down and relax for some moments, enjoying the feeling of the fuel reenergizing them.

Then they together find the remaining tools that the medic will need to perform the surgery. As Ratchet checks the list, Firstaid frowns as Ratchet asks him if they have prepared a drop for slowly induced painkillers and a drop with a solution that will keep the Lord High Protector in a light stasis. However the last one is not to be applied.

As he responds with a negative, Ratchet looks up and sees the frown. Moving to find the needed chemicals the medic explains to the medic in training, why they need those two.

It would seem silly to add painkillers to a mech who is in stasis by the severity of his damages.

But even when the mech is in stasis, the processor functions and will react to sensations added. So when Ratchet is about to repair the damage, he doesn’t need the circuitry to react to his soldering and patching of the damage.

The stasis solution is to keep the Lord High Protector in stasis if his systems begin to rouse him as the damage is repaired; it has happened before with fatal result that a mech rises from stasis under the surgery and the movements causing deadly damage.

Why Ratchet doesn’t just put him under from the beginning?

The added solution to the already active stasis could cause the essential systems to shut down completely, killing the mech. So instead regulations suggest the medic to have the solution prepared in case signs of the patient rousing from the stasis shows.

As the check list is finished and everything is ready for the surgery Ratchet once more disinfect and opens the hatch. Once more placing the plate on the trace beside Firstaid, Ratchet mentally steels himself before he asks for the first tools.

As the repairs commerce the silence reigns once more, and beside the monitors and Ratchet now and then asking for a new tool, nothing disturbs the silence.

The time flies as they are absorbed in the repair, and one cycle turns to two and more without their knowledge. When Ratchet finally withdraws the last tools from the helm and asks for a syringe holding a vicious green substance ten cycles has passed, and Firstaid looks on with optics that begins to tire as Ratchet applies the green substance all around the soldering he has made to the circuitry.

As the medic withdraws the syringe, he explains.

“This is as special kind of sealant that will strengthen the soldering as well as protect the wires from electrical discharges. It takes time for the frame to integrate the soldering fully and until that happens this sealant protects the repairs.” He explains.

Then as he places the syringe on the trace he asks for the plating to cover the helm of the Lord High Protector once more.

As the delicate circuitry is protected again, he lets out a relieved sigh.

Stretching his aching limbs, that had been kept too still in all the time they have been caught up in the repairs, Ratchet feels satisfied at the repairs he has performed. Now they just have to see when the Lord High Protector wakes from his stasis if the repairs have been enough to avoid any lingering damage.

Checking his chronometer he can see that it is almost time for them to rouse the Prime from his stasis. Looking at the prone red and blue mech on the other berth Ratchet decides to take a look on the logs from the monitors, just to be sure nothing had been overseen.

A breem later he hums in satisfaction. The only thing worth noticing is the spike from the spark happening in certain intervals, but nothing alarming. Musing he guess it is due to the outer wound on the sparkchamber where the seeker managed to gouge the chamber. It would flux a bit until it healed on its own.

As they begin to disinfect and clean the tools used on the surgery a cycle passes and when they are placing the tools at the respective places in the cabinets the Prime’s medic enters the medbay.

Nodding to Ratchet he goes to the Prime and checks the same log Ratchet had looked at a cycle prior. A satisfied sound escapes his vocalizer and he then turns to the other medic.

“Shall we?” the medic asks Ratchet and Firstaid.

“Yes.” Ratchet agrees and finds the neutralizer to the stasis solution.

Handing the syringe to Firstaid he gestures for the medic in training to administer it into the Primes energon line while the other medic disconnects the drop that has flowed with the stasis solution.

Astroseconds after Firstaid has administered the neutralizer the spark rate slowly raises and the monitor watching the processor shows more and more large spikes as well as smaller ones, indicating that the Prime is slowly roused from his stasis.

Then a breem later the blue optics online and a stifled moan escapes the vocalizer of the prone mech.

Smiling a rare smile at Firstaid, Ratchet is relieved to see that the Prime seems to have come through the whole encounter with the seekers and the surgery seemingly unscattered.

As the Primes medic observe the vitals, Ratchet move closer to the berth to let the Prime know that they are there.

Blinking a few times, the Prime is finally able to see the medic clearly. Looking around he finds himself in an unknown location.

“Greetings Prime.” Ratchet greets the Prime formally, nodding his helm slightly.

“Where?” the Prime asks, his voice weak and hoarse.

“My name is Ratchet, I’m a medic. I was there at the amphitheater. Do you remember anything?” the medic asks.

A frown enters the face of the Prime as he tries to recall the last orns events.

“I- Black, black and blue. Pain great pain, and screams. Seekers. The senators! Did any of them survive?” the Prime press as he remembers the slaughter he had been too stunned to try to avoid. Not that he would have made a difference he mused as he recalled how easily the seeker had wounded him.

As Ratchet looks to the Prime’s medic, since he himself don’t know anything about the fate of the few senators that hadn’t been completely offline, the other medic shakes his head in sorrow.

None of the senators had come out of it alive. The few that still had lived as the medics were allowed into the scene, after Ratchet had left, had bled out on the way to the medbay.

“No, they all died.” He explains to the Prime. As he tells the bad news, he sees the sorrow in the blue optics. No this Prime was not like the former Prime. Sentinel wouldn’t have cared for others, and definitely not the senators.

“You, yourself is lucky to come out of it alive. The seeker actually managed to gouge your sparkchamber with its claws. And I am sure you felt what else it did on its travel to your chamber. If I hadn’t been there you would have followed the Senate.” Ratchet explains gravely.

“I don’t understand why it stopped. Why they left instead of complete the kill. I was so certain when I looked into its optics that I was dead.” The Prime mused, recalling the black seeker.

“You never know with seekers.” Ratchet just murmurs, his voice more like a whisper, barely comprehendible by the others.

Looking up he meets the optics of the other medic, done with checking the vitals, the medic indicates that he is going to leave them alone.

However the silence in the medbay is disrupted by cursing outside the room shortly after the other medic has left, and a comm. from Hound alerts Ratchet that Starscream is making a fuss, aimed to find him.

Looking at the Prime as the screech from the seekerlet is heard inside the medbay, he is prepared for the red and blue mech to enter a relapse of his experience with the seekers. Then the doors are swooshed open and in fly the seekerlet, completely uncaring about its surroundings, going for its creator.

As he lands on Ratchets shoulder, Starscream digs his talons into the plating and firmly tighten his tail around the neck. His optics shines with a rare fury, however instead of the anticipated growl a pleased purr escapes Starscreams vocalizer and he curls into the neck of the medic, content at finally having found his missing creator since he woke cycles ago with only Hound there.

The Prime is not stupid and even if the seekerlet doesn’t quite resemble the mature seekers, the similarity is clear.

Ratchet sees the recognition in the Prime’s optics.

“I can explain Prime.” The medic begins, aware that Starscream might have doomed himself.

Feeling the ire rolling of the medic, Starscream raises his helm and looks around. Optics falling on the mech lying on the berth, he utters an inquiring sound and moves forward to study the new mech further. He recognizes the red he knows from Ratchet and Firstaid, but the blue color is new to him and anything new fascinates the seekerlet.  
Before Ratchet manages to get a hold of Starscream, the seekerlet is gliding towards the red and blue colored mech.

Landing on the legs covered in the strange new color, Starscream curiously taps the plating with his claws, unaware that the two autobots has frozen. Ratchet’s fear is growing on the behalf of the seekerlet; however the Prime is shocked by the sensation of Starscream digging his talons and claws into his plating to stay there while he studies the blue color.

Finding his voice again, Ratchet apologizes while he moves closer to gather Starscream safely in his servos.

The medic reaching out for Starscream wakes the Prime from his own stunned state, and he stops Ratchet from taking away the seekerlet.

Instead the Prime reaches for the seekerlet himself and as the large servo comes closer, Starscream raises his helm to look at the new mech with the new color.

Meeting the blue optics, the yellow optics of the seekerlet shines with recognition. Turning to his creator he gestures for the optics and then to the blue plating, letting out a strange series of melodically sounds.

Returning his optics to the stranger he looks at the servo coming closer.

That one is also in that new color.

Starscreams curiosity is peaking and he lets the servo gather around him and restrict him. Squeaking a bit when his wings are pressed in the grip, he wriggles in the hold that slowly tightens.

As the servo lifts him from the surface and into the air, adding more pressure on his systems to cool down his internals, Starscream fights more in the restraining hold around his chest. His talons try without any success to get some leverage on the large digits around him while the tail wriggles violently in the air, now and then slashing at the servo.

Realizing that his efforts are useless Starscream turns to the only solution he has left; calling for his creators. As he lets out his piteous screech, Ratchet feels the panic rising in the bond he has with the little thing. But he is unable to do anything. He just hopes that the fear he feels is shamed in the actions the Prime have in mind.

However the deep frown on the red and blue mechs face could be from anything.

Studying the fighting little seeker in his servo Optimus can’t stop measuring the little seeker to the one that had been about to kill him. He has to admit that the loud roars and growls doesn’t compare to the weak trills of melodious sounds coming from the little seeker in his servo.

As he raises the seeker into optic level he locks optics with the yellow ones. A shake rattles him as he watches the color of the optics that is so familiar with the optics haunting him. But these don’t shine with the maliciousness and deadly intent the mature seeker’s did. Instead he is greeted by optics widened to their maximum potential as they look into his own, showing fear and panic.

What finally causes him to cave is the weak whimper escaping the little tricolored seekerlet.

Unfolding his servo around the seekerlet, he lets Starscream rest on the palm of his other servo.  
Canting his helm Starscream looks at the strange mech in confusion. Running a self-diagnostic unconsciously, his systems begin to deal with the damage caused to his frame at the tight hold. His wings are bending out of form and needs to be righted before he is able to fly again.

Taking his optics away from the little seeker, the Prime looks at Ratchet.

“How long have you had it?” Optimus asks.

“Him. And we have had him from he was birthed.” The medic explains.

As Ratchet begins to explain how they got the seekerlet in their possession and what they had learned during the last four vorns, Optimus returns his optics to Starscream and looks with fascination at the little seeker while listening to the medic.

It would be so easy to kill the little seeker, and he had been about to do just that when he reached his servo towards the seeker. They would be better off with as few of the seekers existing as possible. The act by the seekers that had slaughtered the Senate showed how dangerous they were and as Prime he couldn’t disregard such a great danger to his people.

But he had hesitated.

He hadn’t been able to justify killing the little seeker, when he realized how vulnerable it was. And he couldn’t justify that this seeker had to suffer from what others of its kin had done.

Then as his decision had been made to not kill the seeker, the Matrix had pulsed with a warm sensation. It was all the confirmation Optimus had needed.

Now Starscream, as the fear had subsided and he didn’t sense anymore danger from the stranger, wanted to be all over Optimus, exploring the new frame, trying to crawl down from the servo holding him, since his wings wouldn’t be able to carry him at their current state. Being so little, the seekerlet was slippery even without the use of his wings and managed to bump down the servo and onto the chest of the Prime. 

Settled there, right above the sparkchamber and the Matrix, Starscream sensed the foreign pulse from the relic. Purring at the pulses reaching him, the seekerlet curled into a ball and dug his claws into the plating, slowly entering recharge, lulled there by the relic. Every intention to explore left Starscream at the strangely familiar but still foreign essence so close to him.

A sigh leaves Ratchet at the sight of Starscream so compliant.

“I must say. He is adorable.” Optimus agree as he sees the fondness showing in the optics of the medic.

Their moment of fondness is disturbed by the monitor at the Lord High Protector alerting Ratchet that his patient is wakening from his stasis, and with a plea for the Prime to shield the recharging Starscream, the medic leaves the seekerlet with the mech.

As he reaches the berth of the Lord High Protector, the red optics is already online and is blinking to gain their focus.

“How are you, Sir?” Ratchet asks.

Searching for the source of the voice, it takes some time for the Lord High Protector to let his optics fall upon Ratchet.

“Fine, I think.” The grey mech groans.

“Do you remember anything?” Ratchet continues, optics intently studying the mech. This would be one of the ways to deduce if the Lord High Protector would recover without any lingering damage.

“I remember the seekers. They attacked the Senate. Then one was about to attack the spectators. I couldn’t let it do that. After that it all becomes vague.” Megatron explains.

“Sir, you were almost killed. If I hadn’t been there you would have died. I had to replace every fuel line in your frame since almost every one of them was damaged.” Ratchet explains.

The medic sees confusion in the red optics as he explains the further damages he had had to repair and how close the Lord High Protector had been to die.

“It isn’t possible.” The grey mech whispers as Ratchet finish his explanation.

With a snort Ratchet shakes his head.

“It is very much possible Sir. If you mean why the seekers attack, well I have never heard of the seekers going this far away from their territory. And I wonder myself why they went to kill the Senators.” the medic respond, as he interpret the words as most of the grounders at the moment does; wondering about the mystery about the seekers.

“They attacked you after they had killed the Senate and only luck caused you to be alive today, much luckier than the senators. Every one of them died in the encounter or shortly after.” Ratchet sighs.

“What a shame.” The Lord High Protector voiced in sarcasm, as he learned of the fate of the Senate. At least the seekers did as he had programmed the leader to do. Now he just had to fix the issue with the gape in the program allowing the seeker to damage him.

Frowning at the uncaring of the mechs that had died the other orn, Ratchet began to check up on the vitals before he would allow the monitors to turn off.

“They might have been corrupt, but no one deserved that fate.” The medic said harshly with his back turned to the Lord High Protector. As such he didn’t see the red optics flash in anger at the comment.

“They deserved it. What no one deserves is to deactivate on the streets suffering from lack of fuel.” Megatron growled.

“No one deserves either fate, Sir.” Ratchet shoots back.

“We are better off without them. Now we can do what needs to be done to right out society.” Megatron continues.

Turning around and facing the grey mech, Ratchet shakes his helm.

“We need someone to deal with the politics of the different city states. We need the Senate working no matter how much you dislike it, Sir.” Ratchet adds to Megatron comment.

“They will just corrupt it all again. No, I won’t allow a new Senate to form.” Megatron replies.

“That you will have to discuss with the Prime. You are not the only one wielding the power to decide that!” the medic answers, his tone telling that he is done talking.

Walking to the Prime, Ratchet gathers the still recharging Starscream in his servo and leaves the medbay to the two rulers. They needed time to decide the further actions and he wanted nothing to do with it. He hoped the Prime could talk some sense into the Lord High Protector.

As he entered the medbay a cycle later, he was greeted by an angry Lord High Protector who had severed the connections to the monitors by himself and was clearly leaving the medbay.

“Get back on the berth!” Ratchet growled.

“Never! I am done with you autobots!” the Lord High Protector roared as he left through the doors. Outside the medbay commotion could be heard and then the outer doors slammed shut leaving an eerie silence.

Turning to the Prime, Ratchet wondered what that had been about. Surely they would have come to an agreement.

The Prime looked defeated as he came closer.

“He wouldn’t listen?” Ratchet asked, recalling his own short discussion with the Lord High Protector.

“It is worse than that I’m afraid.” Optimus answered. His optics shone with a pale blue, showing great sorrow and pain.

“How?” Ratchet asked, bemused.

“He wants us to divide the power. No Senate. No listening to the wish of the people. No more elections. He wants to solidify his power.” Optimus began to explain.

But that wasn’t the worst.

Megatron had slipped.

The Lord High Protector had unintentionally given information that bloodied his servos.

With the blood of the senators’.

In his rage he had threatened to send his army of fliers to obliterate every autobot alive.

To Optimus the seekers were wild and brutal, uncontrollable by anyone. For the Lord High Protector to claim that he had some control of the seekers to make them do his bidding was incriminating.

Then Megatron had begun to severe the connection to the monitors and had proclaimed that he wasn’t spending one more moment in this hated city state. Then he had gotten up and been about to leave as Ratchet entered the medbay.

“I sense troubles in our future. Megatron has left for Kaon, where his powerbase is.” Optimus elaborated.

Sighing Ratchet felt the same worry as the Prime.

Politic. How he hated politic.

It was always about someone wanting power or more of it.

Sitting beside the Prime, he wondered how much of the new hunger for power in the Lord High Protector had come from his damages.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't handle damage done to sparklings, skip the last 20 lines of this chapter. Follows the general warnings otherwise.

Looming shadow of war:

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay:

Ratchet had realized how young the Prime actually were when he had talked with the red and blue mech after the Lord High Protector had left in his rage.

If the Lord High Protector had betrayed them, their society and promised what could only be seen as war, the Prime was the only leader the autobots had to gather around, and they needed a strong and competent leader. And it was something that Ratchet unfortunately didn’t see in Optimus at the moment. The Prime was reluctant to go into the offensive, hoping that Megatron just overreacted in his rage.

Finally the medic had suggested that they could send someone to scout the seekers, and report if anything was going on with the fliers.

At that he had seen uncertainty in the concerned blue optics as Optimus had voiced his thoughts and insecurities.

The Prime wanted to keep the feud between the two rulers a secret for the time being, in a naïve hope that the tryst would be solved somehow. If he was to dispatch scouts he would reveal that something had gone wrong between him and Megatron. It was something that could cause unnecessary worry among their people.

Optimus after all as the Prime was their religious leader, while Megatron as the Lord High Protector held the power over their military forces. And that also meant the scouts.

If the Prime began to order forces not under his command, the tryst between the two rulers would be known to their people.

Ratchet had understood some of the concern, but kept arguing that they needed to know if what the Lord High Protector had implied was in fact the truth. Ratchet still remembered the massacre at Astaria clearly and to have something like that repeating…

Then he had suggested that they could send Hound. The tracker wasn’t a scout, but knew how to travel the wilderness and avoid the seekers in their territory. He could see no other option, if they were to get knowledge of seeker movements.

And this was why he now stood in the common room with Starscream on his shoulder and watched Hound check his subspace for the third time. On the table lay the most important equipment, twelve sedation guns. Hound had listened to the medic and had decided to carry more of the sedation, since he was going to stay inside the seeker territory for a longer period and be closer to the seekers than ever before. It was a dangerous mission the tracker was going on and the green mech might not survive it.

“For Primus sake, Hound, be careful.” He asked of the mech as Hound was done with his check.

“I will. And you too Ratchet. Don’t worry too much about me, I got my holograms and they haven’t failed me yet.” The tracker smiled.

Then they moved out into the hallway and walked down the long corridor to the outer door.

At the door Hound gently nuzzled Starscream, receiving a satisfied purr from the seekerlet.  
Then with a nod to the medic he went out of the door, and greeted the guards protecting the medbay as long as the Prime stayed there, before he transformed and went on his way out of Iacon, aimed for the forests.

o o o

Iacon, The Lord High Protector’s tower:

Megatron was boiling with rage as he went through the roads of Iacon towards his tower. His conversation with the Prime had showed to him how weak the mech was and how corrupt the Prime had become without his knowledge.

The mech had dared to suggest that they formed a new Senate.

How foolish after Megatron had had so much trouble wiping out the last Senate. No, the Lord High Protector hadn’t wanted anything to do with any new election of senators that he knew would become just as corrupt as the last ones. It was better to divide the power among themselves to secure the wellbeing of their people.

But the Prime hadn’t listened to his suggestion.

Soon his rage had reached the point where he had been ready to kill the Prime, and had tried to bring his fusion cannon online to do it. But unfortunately the medic had deactivated his weapon systems.

That cursed autobot medic.

He was sure it had been a plot between the Prime and the medic to leave him that vulnerable. It was then he had risen from his berth and had disconnected the lines to the monitors. He needed to get away from all this autobot infestation.

And then the medic had come and ordered. Ordered! Him back on the berth. How dared he!

He was done with their plotting. Cybertron would be better without them!

Arriving at the tower he contacted Soundwave.

“Meet me at my office!” he growled when the telepath accepted the comm.

“Affirmative.” The mech droned before Megatron closed the comm. again.

Taking the turbo lift to his office he arrived there before Soundwave and strode into the antechamber, completely ignoring the secretary addressing him. The secretary was after all an autobot.

Growling at the autobot he closed the door to his office and began to walk to his safe to get what he needed when he left the city state.

A few kliks later the doors pinged and allowed them to open when it was confirmed that it was Soundwave that wanted entrance.

“I need you to online my weapons.” Megatron asked of the telepath, not wasting any time. He wanted to be at his full power. Prime might want to restrain him after his slip of information.

“Acknowledged” Soundwave answered and went up behind the Lord High Protector. Reaching his digits around the grey helm he initiated access to Megatrons systems.

Wincing as his firewalls was bypassed by the telepath, Megatron stiffened. If he didn’t trust the mech this much, Soundwave would never have been allowed this close.

Then the sensation eased and in his vision he was informed that is weapons had been onlined once more.

Testing it, he onlined his fusion cannon and charged it. As it responded, and the weapon began to shine with purple a smile grew on his face. Then a thought occurred to him, and with purpose he strode towards the door.

Opening it he aimed the cannon at his secretary and fired.

Shock was clear in the autobots optics as the life faded from his features. The weapon had extinguished his spark easily.

“Now we have peace to do what needs to be done.” Megatron voiced as he closed the doors again, locking them.

Turning to the telepath he began to give orders to the mech.

“I need you to alter the schedule of orders implemented in the mind controller. We are going to teach the autobots to not mess with us anymore. Then add some more inhibitors to it. It clearly has some gaps. I don’t want any seeker to be able to touch me!” the Lord High Protector began.

Nodding Soundwave strode towards the monitor placed in the office and began to gain access to the device implanted in Thundercracker.

As the telepath began to implement the orders Megatron went into his private chambers. He wouldn’t leave anything for the autobots to get their dirty servos on.

He began to fire the fusion cannon, obliterating anything in the quarters, even going as far as destroying the very structure of the building in the process. He didn’t care if he weakened the tower and endangered the mechs staying further above his own quarters.

As he reveled in the destruction, Soundwave had finished with the inhibitors and now just needed to implement the next order for the seekers to comply.

“Altering of schedule: new order ready to be implemented.” He droned as Megatron entered the office again.

A sinister smirk grew on the Lord High Protector.

“Perfect. I have just the right target.” Megatron answered.

Leaning over the shoulders of the telepath he explained.

“Send them to Simfur.” He said with a smile in his voice.

The city state of Simfur was mainly Autobot controlled, housing 500.000 autobots and only 1000 decepticons. The two groups had always lived together in the cities, but some held more of one or the other.

In the case of Simfur, Autobots had always ruled the city and had used the few decepticons there to refine the energon crystals the city received from the mines into drinkable energon. The process was unforgiving and hard on the decepticons and they didn’t survive long in the toxic fumes from the chemicals needed to extract the energon from the crystals to produce the most potent fuel.

It would serve right to stop such an abomination happening.

And if the few decepticons living there didn’t survive, well it was only a thousand. If they didn’t manage to survive the attack they weren’t worthy being of decepticon heritage anyway. And loss was unavoidable in any war.

Straightening as Soundwave began to write the order into the device, Megatron began to destroy the furniture and other possessions in the office, leaving no evidence of his plans. When Soundwave indicated that he was done and the order had been verified by the program on the device, the telepath left the monitor, going for the doors and into the antechamber.

As he left the room a loud explosion sounded, signaling the destruction of the monitor and any evidence it might have held. A few more blasts sounded as the Lord High Protector decimated the wreck of the monitor further, making sure nothing was going to be salvable.

Satisfied he followed Soundwave and left the office burning and scorched.

Walking to the turbo life, he joined Soundwave and the two decepticons soon left the tower at the bottom.

It would take time for the autobots to realize what had happened, and at that time they would have left Iacon.

Kaon would be the new home for the Lord High Protector. It was there he had gathered most of the opposition against the old rule that he with his actions against the Senate and the refusal of the Prime’s suggestion had obliterated.

It would require both of the rulers to revive the Senate once more. So the old ways had been completely wiped out.

Like a sparkling he would with glee await the terror rising in his new enemies when they learned of the fate of Simfur.

Kaon he knew would celebrate the bloodbath and destruction done by the seekers, but ordered by the decepticons’ new and only leader.

Megatron would take the lead in the war rising from the burning ruins of the autobot city states around the planet.

o o o

Forest in the southern hemisphere:

Skywarp knew that Thundercracker was caught up in meetings with the clan leaders still lingering in the clan and had taken with the group of hunters to bring back some of the grounders to feed their clan. Since Thundercracker had given the hunt free several seekers went and came back from the barren land of the grounders.

Landing together with Silvershade and Crossfire, two dominants taking up the role as his protectors when he left without the Winglord, the black and purple seeker scouted the settlement chosen as their prey that cycle.

Beside the trio the rest of the group landed moments later.

As the trinemate of the Winglord, Skywarp held the authority in the group and had been leading them just like Thundercracker would have, had the Winglord followed him on the hunt. If the dominants felt anything about being led by a submissive they didn’t show it. They knew their positions well and knew that to defy Skywarp was to defy Thundercracker.

/Don’t kill. Just take them to the air. It is preferable if they are alive when we arrive back at camp./ Skywarp told the group before he allowed them to attack.

Transforming the seekers took to the air and swept the settlement some times before they dove down and caught their prey. Screaming followed their attacks from the ground and the grounders began to mill around in panic.

Now and then shots were fired at the seekers, mainly lasers. The red beams was just annoying to the seekers, while the bullets managed to dent and if a grounder were lucky to hit the same spots several times, pierce the thick armor of the seekers. But it rarely happened that a grounder was so skilled with its weapons to be any real danger to the seekers.

As the last ones gathered in the air, high above the settlement, carrying their prey, the group began their travel back into the forest, leaving the settlement and the lucky grounders left there that would survive another orn.

Arriving back at the camp, the group was surrounded by trinemates belonging to the seekers making up the hunting group. As Skywarp landed, Silvershade and Crossfire nodded to him before they left the area with their own prey to find their own trines. As he watched the two seekers leave, he wondered if Thundercracker was done with his meetings.

Moving to the center of the camp where ‘Swiftstrike’ held his meetings, and where Thundercracker would be too, he soon saw the blue plating of his mate’s large wings reaching above the wings of the clan leaders’ gathered around the Winglord.

It was clear that the meeting wasn’t done yet, and he mulled if he should go there or wait for Thundercracker to come to their own area.

However his decision was made for him when the blue and yellow carrier came up behind him and took a hold of the black and purple seeker and dragged him with him towards the dominants.

/Come Skywarp. He needs to refuel soon. It is good of you to bring him his fuel. They all tend to forget their tanks when a meeting like this drags on./ the blue and yellow seeker told him as they moved closer to the large group of dominants.

As the two submissives came closer, the dominants turned to watch them. Some looked at them with disdain, annoyed that they were disturbed in their meeting. However Thundercrackers wings perked up when he saw his mate. He didn’t care that the submissive had disturbed him, especially when he saw what the black and purple seeker had a firm hold on. His tanks let out a rather loud rumble at the sight of the grounder, and he ignored the seekers around him as he went to greet his mate.

Unsure how Thundercracker would take it that he had disturbed the meeting, Skywarp looked down, waiting for whatever reaction the Winglord would have.

His spark skipped a beat, and he relaxed a bit when the only thing Thundercracker did as the blue seeker reached him, was to lift his helm with a careful claw under his jaw.

/You are perfect. Thank you for caring for me when I forget it myself./ Thundercracker told his mate as he looked into the unsure optics of his mate, and felt his insecurity. Skywarp still needed reassurance in his actions to be sure that what he did was right. With his lack of dealing with the formalities among the seekers in general, since most of his life had been lived in isolation in his birth clan, Skywarp didn’t want to risk doing something wrong and didn’t know when he was right and when he was wrong.

What the blue and yellow carrier had done for him, as he had dragged the black and purple seeker with him towards the dominants, he had shown Skywarp that he shouldn’t fear the clan leaders at all. Some might look upon the act with disdain, but the carrier knew Thundercracker well. He had after all carried the Winglord beside his own spark. Thundercracker would even have had Skywarp by his side at the meeting if the topics wouldn’t have been too boring to listen to for his mate.

As the Winglord left with his mate to refuel, Skywarp glanced back at the carrier and let a little smile grace his lips in a silent thanks you.

Relaxing at their own private area, the fuel from the grounder slowly being pumped into their mouths as they lazily lay and enjoyed each other, Skywarp let himself drown in the feeling of his mate this close. Sending and receiving feelings, he slowly zooned out and drank in the feelings like he did the fuel. He was sure that he could live on the feelings coming from Thundercracker, not needing anything but his mate. It all was so perfect. And things had been normal the last orn.

As the grounder slowly bleed out the flow lessened and soon stopped completely, the frame greying out long before that. Crushing the severed servo of the grounder, the black and purple seeker began to fill his tank with the needed metals. Beside him he heard Thundercracker do the same, ripping and crunching as the Winglord devoured his part of the grounder.

Turning towards his mate and snuggling into the blue plating of the Winglord, Skywarp let out a content purr. Looking up into Thundercrackers optics way above him, he froze for a second, then he rose from his spot to be sure that what he saw was true.

Thundercracker had regained his yellow optics.

Reaching a claw tentatively towards the yellow orbs, Skywarp was like hypnotized and didn’t see his mate stiffen.  
/What is it Skywarp?/ Thundercracker asked, seeing the optics of his mate so focused.

/Your optics. They are yellow./ was the relieved response from his mate.

A deep sigh left Thundercracker at that. They had become normal again then. He had been quite unnerved when his optics continued being orange.

The relief however was short-lived.

The return of his yellow optics was only because of Soundwave working on the program, entering new inhibitors to the ones already logged into the program. Doing so, Soundwave needed to deactivate the program momentarily, letting Thundercracker completely free from any control the program has over him.

As Soundwave finished his work and began to write the new order onto the device, the optics would still be yellow, but as he finished writing the new order Megatron had given him to pass on to the Winglord, pressing the last keystroke and receiving a confirm from the device that the new order had been registered, the order instantly was activated, causing the optics of the Winglord to become blood red, like last an order had been activated.

That caused Skywarp, so enthralled by the yellow optics to react in shock when they in an instant turned blood red.

To Thundercracker, nothing physically happened. There were no pain or other sensation coursing through his frame as the new order activated. But he reacted to the reaction he watched in his mate. He felt the shock through their bond and knew that something must have happened.

/Are you okay?/ The Winglord asked, concerned.

/Red. They are red again./ Skywarp whimpered.

/What. I don’t feel anything. There is no pain./ closing his optics Thundercracker let himself feel if anything was different in his frame.

But it was all normal.

Everything except…

An urge.

A need.

Rising swiftly from the ground, reaching a servo to help Skywarp from the ground, he began to walk back to the center of the camp, to where the clan leaders still were.

Reaching the group still gathered Thundercracker walked into the middle and looked around at them all. Following him Skywarp stood by his side and felt every one of the optics looking at him.

Then a jolt went through them all, and new protocols activated.

Skywarp had never seen those before.

Scrolling through the protocols that had suddenly appeared in his processor, the process of integrating the black and purple seeker in the command structure of the militaristically formations activated. As his position as the Winglords second was recognized and solidified in the flight formation, his rank was raised from that of the “nothing” he had been most of his life, holding one of the lowest ranks among his people to the rank granted him as he joined in the trinebond with the Winglord.

What he had fought to accomplish during the vorns since their trine-challenge, was given to him in mere kliks by the protocols. Even if the seekers in the Swiftstrike clan had begun to accept him by acknowledging his worth during the hardships he had survived, and especially giving their respect after the incident with the lost newspark where the black and purple seeker should have deactivated too, it had been a fight for him to get the respect generally among their people.

Now that respect was forced upon them.

Looking at the dominants around him he saw a flash of white in their optics momentarily before it subsided and when it did, he realized that the other seekers in the clan began to gather around the group holding the Winglord and the clan leaders.

What very few of the seekers alive knew was that the Winglord at that moment had activated the Glyph of War.

Activated it allowed the Winglord full control of his people.

Activated, scouts would be sent to every clan with the message.

The scouts would be carrying the glyph in their essence, transmitting it as they flew, passing it on to every seeker they met on their way to their given destination. It would protect the scouts as they passed through the territory of the other clans until they arrived at the clan leader and could pass the glyph on to the leader.

As the glyph spread, seekers would move in large numbers to gather at the Winglord. Only the immature and carrying seekers would not be affected, but those would still follow the masses as they left their clans. They would gather with the carriers and immature seekers from the other clans and be protected together in the clan of the Winglord by assigned seekers while the dominants and fightable submissives moved out towards their enemy.

The Glyph of War was one of the most rarely used commands the Winglord had at its disposal. For the seekers currently living, the last time the glyph had been activated was pure seeker legend. The oldest of the seekers however did remember their creators explaining some of the issues that had caused the Winglord of their creators’, creators’, creators’ to activate the glyph all those many hundred thousand millions of vorns ago.

It had been one of the most magnificent stories to be passed on, and it was no wonder why the tale had turned to legend.

The battle following the activation of the glyph had been the bloodiest ever seen.

For millions of vorns, seekers and grounders had coexisted, but a twist among the Winglord and the ruler of the dynasty of the grounders had thrown them into fighting. The grounders had without permission cleared a forest that had covered the most of the planet in the east, leaving the huge area of the planet barren and uninhabitable for the seekers. One of their homes had been eradicated by that act and the Winglord could not forgive the grounders. The twist among him and the ruler of the grounders had grown, until the later threatened to do the same to the forests in the south. That had been the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the Glyph of War had been activated.

The description of the gathering of all the seekers was one of marvel. At that time, there existed more seekers than ever since. The numbers were countable in the millions. The seekers had left their clans to gather in enormous throngs in the air above the clan housing the Winglord. The seekers flying in large shoals forming like a cyclone and closed out all the light from the sun.

When the seekers finally flew into battle they formed into the triangular trine formations, with the Winglord trine in the front, followed by every complete trine, ranking from highest in front and lowest in the back. The untrined groups would then from up the large triangular formations, each group led by the respective clan leader. The large formations would once more be made up by the highest ranking clans in the front with the lowest following. The complete formation had by the legend closed out enough light and warmth to cause the temperature of the planet to dwindle 3 degrees.

The battle that had commenced had been vicious, with the ancient grounders able to take out the seekers from the air, using vague flight abilities to counter the seekers in their element. Compared to the grounders populating the planet with the seekers at the present, the ancient grounders had been of the same size as the seekers and had been fitted with armor almost as dense as the seekers own. They had also been more powerful, their weapons like their frames and armor being stronger. They had been equal adversaries to the seekers compared to the present where the grounders were as weak as any prey the seekers could encounter in the forests.

However, no one had won the war that had followed the first battle. The Winglord had after vorns of war been challenged for his position and had lost. And where the old Winglord had been too caught up in the twist between the two species, the new one wasn’t and had negotiated with the rulers of the grounders. They had divided the planet in two, simply giving every forested area to the seekers and leaving the rest to the grounders. No one would trespass on the others territory.

As time went by, the chaos among the two species settled and the peace held. 

Over time the grounder society evolved, while the seekers kept to their old ways of living.

The seekers managed to live in the two forests left on the planet. The war had halved their numbers and the scarceness of prey had taken its further toll on the numbers.

And now the Glyph of War was active once more, gathering the seekers for a new battle.

As cycles passed, more and more seekers gathered at the Swiftstrike clan, the various clan leaders meeting up with Thundercracker and Skywarp in the center of the camp. Above them their people were flying in the legendary formations, waiting for the final signal to fly into battle.

As the last clan arrived, the number of clan leaders around the Winglord and Skywarp counted more than hundred. Above them the sun was completely blocked.

Skywarp couldn’t stop marveling in the sight of all their people gathered this closely. The magnitude of what was going to happen had dawned upon him when the protocols had begun their work, but to see with his own optics what that simple act from Thundercracker led to. It was astonishing to witness the true power of the Winglord.

And he felt completely home at it. No insecurity was gnawing at his spark. He was sure some of it was due to the steadiness he sensed in Thundercracker. The Winglord knew what he was doing and was ready to lead his people.

As Thundercracker looked around at the clan leaders, he sensed how relaxed Skywarp felt in the presence of the power and was pleased by his mate. He had felt how the activation of the protocols in his mate had done as they should, his own protocols affirming Skywarp position by his side.

He knew Skywarp would do great in what was to come, even if the black and purple seeker knew little of how to lead this large a group of seekers. Most of it was deeply coded in the seeker. He remembered his mate’s bloodthrist from the slaughter in the grounder camp they had visited not long ago, and longed to share that with his mate once again.

The glyph connecting the seekers like a hive mind, Thundercracker gave the final order to fly into battle. Gently nuzzling the wings of his mate he prepared to transform and take off, taking up his position in front of the formation together with the black and purple seeker.

As the Winglord took up position with his mate, the large shoals of seekers began to circle with purpose, slowly dissolving into their formations behind the Winglord and the large group began their flight out of the forest.

o o o

Forest in the southern hemisphere:

Hound had broken every speed record he had ever done on his way to the forest in the south. He knew that every klik counted when it came to the seekers. The fliers were so much faster in the air, compared to his own travel on the ground. Sometimes as he had watched Starscream glide through the air, he wondered how it would feel like to be able to do that. But he was and would always stay connected to the ground.

As he had reached the outskirts of the forest he had instantly felt the pressure in the air all around him. The atmosphere didn’t feel like welcoming him, and as he went further into the forest, he sensed the eerie silence reigning there. He knew that something was up with the seekers, but hesitated to report back to Iacon. He would need to have visual evidence before he made any contact.

Traveling further into the forest the silence began to dissolve as more and more seekers became visible to him. Still he had that feeling of something bad brewing. Activating his hologram, masking him like the forest around him, he silently went further into the domain of the seekers, aiming in the same direction that it seemed most of the fliers were headed to.

He needed answers.

Unknown to Hound he was moving into what would be the hardest mission ever done out in the forest. As he followed the seekers he was heading towards the Swiftstrike clan and every battle ready seeker, with protocols active and alert to their surroundings.

Long before he arrived at the clan he saw the formation of seekers swirling in the air, and the amount of seekers present came as a shock to him. Never before had he seen so many seekers gathered. Not even when they flew from one forest to the other did so many seekers travel together.

Taking an image capture of the formations he warily carried on towards what would be the location of said formations.

Finally arriving at the source of the formation he had watched at the distance, he can’t help the marvel hitting him as he sees the formation up close. It is impossible beautiful to see the seekers able to move together that fluidly, their colors mingling into something artistic.

As he reverts his optics from the sight of the shoals in the air, and looks at the wide open area not far away from where he hide, he sees a group of fairly large seekers standing in the middle of the area. As he looks closer he recognizes the blue seeker from the amphitheater in the middle of them and manages to silence the gasp as he realizes how big the seeker is compared to the rest.

As he watch the group, the blue seeker looks up at the groups gathered in the air above them and moments later the seeker is in the air followed by the black and purple seeker the autobot also recognizes from the amphitheater. As the two seekers gain altitude, the shoals of seekers halt their movements for a klik before they begin to circle like Hound remembers from the massacre on Astaria.

Then the shoals slowly breaks up into smaller groups, almost nothing more than a speck as high up as the seekers are flying. Then as the last trine departs for the shoals, the larger formations begin to move, and the clan leaders still on the ground takes to the air, taking up the front of each triangle of untrined seeker or incomplete trines. As the last clan leader leaves the ground, the shoals are completely dissolved and instead the sky is filled with countless triangles slowly moving in the direction out of the forest.

Taking an image capture of some of the advance structure the seekers has formed into in the air, Hound retreats from his hideout, leaving the camp before him, still filled with some seekers. It is clear to him that the seekers left is unable to fly or too young. He sees several seekerlets following caretakers, and can’t help a little smile in all the seriousness as he thinks of Starscream. Then he gathers his mind and retreats to report to Iacon what he has witnessed.

o o o

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay:

The soft murmuring in the medbay is disrupted by Ratchet’s comm. going off as Hound tries to make contact with the medic.

Nervousness fills the medic as he accepts the comm. and the grave expression on Hounds face already tells him what he knew. The Lord High Protector’s claim that he somehow controlled the seekers had been the truth.

Looking at the Prime, Ratchet turns the volume of the comm. to the highest setting.

“What have you found out?” he then asks, his voice showing his fears.

“It is easier for me to show you. Give me a klik, I have some image captures to send you.” The tracker answers.

A few kliks later the comm. pings and the two pictures the tracker has taken of the seekers in their movements shows for the medic and the Prime to see.

Ratchet can’t stop the curse slipping from his vocalizer at the sheer amount of seekers in the air, and the formation on the last picture. It is just like at Astaria.

“The last one is only a fragment of the whole formation.” Hound explains. “My guess is that there are hundreds of those triangular formations. And they are heading out of the forest at the moment.” The tracker continues, his voice filled with dread.

“I don’t have to say, that whoever or whatever they are targeting is ill-fated.” Hounds voice replies after some silence from the medic.

“Hound. Get back. NOW! You have risked yourself enough as it is.” Ratchet asks the tracker in a severe tone. Then he continues: “Thank you for your report. This was what I feared.” Ratchet told the green mech before he closed the comm.

Sighing he turns to look at the Prime.

“Optimus, you need to get in the offensive. It is clear that Megatron has gone completely insane. We need you. We need a leader to guide us in all this, or we are going to be wiped out.” The medic pleads the Prime.

“I’m sorry, Ratchet. I know nothing of war. I’m just your religious leader. And not really a leader at that either. I have little to none experience.” Optimus answers, defeated at the now obvious betrayal by his Lord High Protector.

“You are not going to stand with all the responsibility by yourself, Prime. You have skilled mechs to guide you if you just take up the mantle of leadership and decide to guide us. Look to your guards. Look at Prowl, skilled strategist. Ironhide, the head of the autobot army is skilled in weaponry. If you take on the leadership and unite us we will make it through.” Ratchet argues.

“And you will be my CMO?” the Prime snorts in disbelief.

“If that is what it takes. Yes Prime, I will be your CMO.” The medic nods.

“I still don’t know. I fear that I might fail you all.” The blue optics shine in uncertainty as the Prime contemplates the resent actions made.

“If you don’t unite us, we will all fail.” Ratchet press on.

“The first you need to do, is inform your people of what has happened. They need to know of Megatron’s betrayal, first and foremost against the Senate and now against us. We need our people knowing that danger is coming to them. And not only by decepticons, but also from the seekers.” The medic continues when he senses that he finally seems to get through to the red and blue autobot.

The Prime just stares at nothing, and Ratchet isn’t sure where the Prime’s thoughts are at the moment. However he knows that he needs to get the red and blue mech on the right track.

“Prime! Optimus!” he yells to get the Primes attention.

Pointing to the air, he continues to explain.

“The seekers are on their move. They are going to kill your people! Every klik here counts for Primus’ sake! Don’t let the ones that will die, die in vain! Get the troops in motion and prepare them to when we know what target Megatron has sent them to.” The medic roars and can’t help but hit the passive mech who is just sitting there when some of his people are soon facing their death without knowing.

The hit takes the Prime by surprise, and he is jolted back into reality. Nodding he opens his comm. with shaken servos and pings Prowl.

The head of the guard responds instantly.

“Sir. What can I do for you?” the black and white autobot asks.

As the Prime hesitates, Ratchet has had enough. Grabbing the screen he forces the arm around and faces the black and white autobot himself.

“What your Prime can’t say is that our dear Lord High Protector has betrayed us! There is a huge swarm of seekers moving to somewhere to do a lot of destruction! We need to know where the Pit the seekers are going! And we especially need to evacuate the area the seekers are targeting! Now get your duty done and meet up with us at my fragging medbay! And if you would be so kind, please contact Ironhide, we need his skills!” the medic roars into the comm. his frustration reaching its limit.

Unfazed by the angry medic Prowl just nods as the information are passed on to him.

As Ratchet stops his rant Prowl looks to the Prime for confirmation.

Almost unnoticeable the Prime nods in consent.

Satisfied the black and white autobot nods to the medic, before he signs off the comm. instantly working on passing the knowledge on. The news that the Lord High Protector had betrayed them required a lot of contacts through their forces to announce the command shift from the Lord High Protector to the Prime.

As the information passed down the ranks, the reactions ranged from disbelief to fits of rage.

When the lowest ranking in the command structure had been informed, every autobot supported the Prime in taking command.

Ten breems later Prowl is at the medbay, bringing with his the guards at the temple of the Prime, which had been on duty, while he had contacted the rest to tells them the news and wanted them to meet up at Ratchet’s medbay, where the Prime stayed.

As the head of the guard enters the building and walks down the corridor to the medbay, the guards that has followed him from their posts at the temple, takes up defensive positions around the building, strengthening the security of their now only leader.

Moments later Ironhide announces his presence and joins the Prime in the medbay as well. Ratchet satisfied that someone is getting something done, relaxes a bit and greets the strategist and weapon specialist.

Before he manages to say anything, his comm. goes off again, and once again it is Hound reporting in.

“Ratchet. I have confirmation. They are not heading towards Iacon. It seems they are going further north. Gauging their flight path I have a feeling I know where they are going IF they don’t adjust course any further. We have only a few autobot controlled settlements that far north. However the city states of Simfur and Helix is located in that region.” Hound reports as he follows the masses of seekers at a distance, slowly returning to Iacon.

“Understood Hound. Just be careful and get back here. Don’t follow them more than you need to.” Ratchet replies before closing the comm.

As Ratchet turns, he can see Prowl already processing the information.

“It is more likely that they are going to Simfur. If Megatron wants to make a statement with this attack he wants to hit us where it hurt us most and him less. Helix has a larger diversity in autobots and decepticons, where Simfur houses half a million autobots and only few decepticons. They will be going to Simfur. Even if he is gone insane, Megatron won’t leave the larger amount of decepticons in Helix at the fate of the seekers.” Prowl concluded to the mechs around him, his voice even as he processed the facts.

“If ya are sure I will dispatch mah troops to Simfur then.” Ironhide growled, moving to leave the medbay to do just that.

Silence reigned the medbay after the weapons specialist had left. They could do nothing but wait for the inevitable.

A cycle passed and the silence was shattered as Hound entered the medbay, his frame sporting clear signs of the tracker having been out in the wilderness, shielding his scent from the seekers by applying scents familiar to the forests. That left him dirty with grime leaking from several transformation seams and almost covered the green finish of the mech completely.

“Any news.” He asked, nervous.

He had been relieved when his road deviated from that of the seekers and he had been able to travel more freely.

Doing so he had hurried back to return to Ratchet and to Starscream. However when he had gotten the medbay in his visual he had been greeted by guards. He had been a bit surprised to see that some of his colleagues from the temple were poised around the building.

As he was finally allowed entrance into the medbay, he had wasted no time in storming down to corridor to reach where Ratchet was at the moment together with the Prime.

“Nothing yet.” Prowl told him.

Checking his chronometer his tank sank as he realized how much time had went by since he left the seekers’ trail.

“They are there now and have been for some time. Why haven’t we heard anything?” he voiced his concern out loud.

Ratchet looked at the tracker. They both thought back to their shared experience at Astaria. How effective the seekers had been and how late the emergency call had been voiced. This time however it wasn’t 5000 innocent sparks, but hundred times as many. There should have been someone alerting the other city states to their emergency.

o o o

Simfur:

Reaching their destination, Thundercracker signaled for the seekers to begin circling the area. In the meantime he turned to the two trines flying behind him. The trines of Silvershade and Crossfire, the two seekers assigned to protect Skywarp when the black and purple seeker was away from the Winglord had rose in rank and had taken up formation behind the trine of the Winglord, ready to assist if their support would be needed.

/Bring me Silent./ the Winglord ordered and watched as one of the submissives in Silvershades trine left the formation to carry out the order.

The Winglord knew of all abilities among his people, and just as he himself carried the ability to perform sonic booms and Skywarp was able to teleport, others had desired powers useful when used at the right moments.

This time the newly matured seeker from the BlackSky clan would be of use.

It was time to silence the grounders.

As the submissive returned with a rather small black seeker covered in silver dots, Thundercracker sensed the fear in the young seeker’s spark. Closing in on the seeker he turned them around so they both faced the city state ahead of them with the Winglord hovering behind the black and silver seeker.

/I need your help Silent./ Thundercracker told the younger seeker, his voice taking on a pleased rumbling.

/See all those lights down there? Do you hear all this noise?/ the Winglord asked, his red optics glinting.

As the younger seeker nodded Thundercracker reached out a claw and stroked the delicate wings, causing the other seeker to let out a whimper.

/Make them stop./ the blue seeker purred into the audio of the seeker.

It would be the young seekers duty to keep the whole area in a radius of several hundreds of miles completely silent to the world around it, stopping any sounds from escaping the dome the special ability would make around the city state.

As the purr turned into rumbling in the Winglord chest, the vibrations carried on into the frame of the black and silver seeker, causing the younger to let out a squeak of surprise.

Then as he gained his wits he initiated his ability, and down below every light in the city state snuffed out. The noise stopped as the machinery converting the raw crystals mined from the underground into process able energon stopped refining the energon crystals.

Pleased with the seeker, Thundercracker released his grip on the black and silver seeker and assigned Silvershade and Crossfires trines to protect the younger seeker during the battle that would commence. It wouldn’t do to release the grip on their prey too early.

And it wouldn’t do to alert the other grounder clans to what was going on, before they were done with this one. Thundercracker was no fool. He knew that gathered, the grounders would be able to wipe out the seekers, which was why he applied this strategy, hoping to gain time before they would be overrun.

Turning to look at the large formations ready to move at his order, Thundercracker gave the final order that would split up the perfect symmetry, dividing the seekers into the complete and incomplete trines and single seekers as they attacked.

As he voiced the order silently in the hive mind, he reveled in the reaction he instantly saw as the seekers split and dove in hazardous angles towards the ground and their enemy.

Even more he reveled in the panicky screams following from the grounders as his seekers on his command began the slaughter.

o o o

Iacon, Ratchet’s medbay several cycles later:

When the troops Ironhide had dispatched returned from Simfur, the general mood in the medbay was that of depression.

As the troops had come closer to the city state they had realized that at some point their comm.’s wasn’t coming through to the makeshift command gathered in Iacon. At that point the warriors had begun to fear what they would be met with as they reached Simfur.

They could already see the seekers taking up the skyline above the city and knew that what they would get into would turn out to be one of the heaviest fights ever anticipated. They had been trained to this, but few had been in an actual battle. Cybertron had been peaceful for so many hundred thousand vorns that most warriors lacked the real experience of battle. Usually there were the random uprising against the Senate that needed to be silenced, but their adversaries had mostly been weak decepticons and not a brutal bestial seeker devoid of any mercy.

What the surviving mechs that returned from Simfur had reported to the makeshift command had been chilling.

The troops had had to retreat when they realized that if they stayed they would end up like most of the sparks that had lived in the city state.

Most had been lucky to be deactivated.

The unlucky had been devoured alive and the really unlucky had been left alive in the streets, their frames ripped open or limbs severed from the frame.

The screaming had been deafening and it had been a pain for the retreating few to move past the clearly suffering mechs. Some had been graced by a friendly killing shot, relieving them of their agony. But in their rapid retreat they couldn’t help everyone. They needed to get the surviving citizens away from the city to minimize the actual loss of sparks.

Out of the 500.000 autobots living there only 43.000 had returned with the surviving troops making the loss of sparks the largest in the recorded history of their society.

And it was only the first attack.  
What unnerved the troops the most from their experience fighting the seekers was the fact that even when they managed to shoot a seeker out of the air, it just rose from the impact with the ground without almost any damage to its frame and kept fighting on.

Their lasers were of no use and the bullets fired upon the savage beasts needed to be fired in a steady stream before they made any damage to the seekers. And usually the seekers were upon the warrior before the autobot managed to pierce the armor.

As the surviving citizens had been debriefed a new fact was revealed.

Ratchet and Hound had instantly recognized the description of the seeker haunting most of the civilians in their reports of the attack.

The blue monster of a seeker made its presence again.

“It led them…” one civilian said.

“It optics burned like the Unmaker himself” one whispered.

“It tore a complete building down by itself. The nursery. I could hear the sparklings cry. Then everything was silent.” One cried.

The testaments continued flowing spelling a clear description on how it all had turned to chaos in the city state when the full attack by the seeker began, led by the blue monster.

It became more and more clear that what Ratchet and Hound had learned by nursing Starscream really was a fact. The seekers were sentient, maybe as sentient as the autobots themselves.

As the last of the troops had made their report and the civilians few civilians that had been by Ratchet’s medbay had been debriefed, the makeshift command let out a collective sigh.

Prime had woken from his reluctance to take lead as he heard the tales from the battlefield and the horror befalling his people.

Ratchet was pleased to see some fire entering the calm blue optics and that the Prime as the reports had been voiced began to ask questions.

“How do we stop them? How many did they say they managed to kill while there? Three? Four? How are we going to be fighting someone that can take being shot out of the air and rise like nothing has happened from the impact with the ground?” The Prime asked them concern filling his voice.

No one had any answer.

Turning to look at Ratchet as the silence filled the medbay.

There were a distinct look in the blue optics of the Prime, and understanding dawned upon Ratchet as he kept looking into them.

No.

He wouldn’t.

“Don’t.” he voiced at the unvoiced plea in the Prime’s optics.

He wouldn’t risk Starscream.

It was time for the roles to turn, and for the medic to be the reluctant one.

Ratchet knew that his allegiance should be with the autobots, his own people. But to reveal his knowledge of the seekers he felt would be to betray his adopted creation.

Sure he had realized some of the vulnerabilities to the seeker frame by studying the little seeker and it would be useful knowledge for their warriors to deal with the seekers. But could he sell out his creation to save his own people?

“Ratchet…” The Prime took on a commanding tone for the first time.

Meeting the hardened blue optics of the Prime, Ratchet favored the mech with a stare of his own.

He wouldn’t budge.

He wouldn’t.

Then the doors opened and one of the civilians came in.

Turning Ratchet looked at the mech covered in grime and dirt. Some spots of laser scorching marked the chest and legs. It was clear that the civilian favored his right leg.

But all of that was lost to Ratchet as he saw what the mech carried in his arms.

A sparkling.

The faint crying of the little autobot filled the silence in the medbay and Ratchet felt his resolve slipping.

Going to the mech he ran a scan of the sparkling, realizing that the sparkling had marks of fangs piercing its shoulders. The wounds were ripped open and a steady stream of energon flowed from them. It looked like it had been forced away from the seeker in a panicked attempt to save it.

Gesturing for the mech to get to a berth the medic set up a drip with energon to replenish what the sparkling had lost and noted that he would need to clear the medbay to repair the wounds. In the meantime he just closed the worst of the leaking lines in the wounds and administered some painkiller to the little one.

Then he saw to the mech and when he had done what he could at the moment, with his work area invaded by mechs not belonging there he returned to the rest of the makeshift autobot command.

“Fine!” he growled at the Prime.

He would teach them seeker anatomy A-Z.

He just hoped Starscream would forgive him when the seeker matured. He might have doomed the seekerlets other creator by doing this.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chose to divide this chapter into two. This is part one.

100 vorns into the future:

Iacon:

Beginning with his lecture of seeker anatomy, the autobots had begun to invent new ways to subdue the seekers, as the knowledge Ratchet had provided the autobot command with, clearly showed how few ways they had to down any of the seekers.

It had been hard for them to accept that the seekers was so hard to damage, but as the reports from Simfur had showed, what Ratchet explained about how the seekers were build had been confirmed.

The next vorns following the first attack and the divide between the autobots and decepticons into fractions, the autobots allowed their scientists free reign to experiment and develop new weapons.

The first prototypes had been completely useless as they had witnessed the seekers just shaking off the effect of what they had thought would be the solution to their peril and carry on in their destruction, while more and more of the autobot city states fell in ruin after more and more attacks from the seekers.

Megatron was upping the confrontations slowly, allowing the bloodbath to be between the autobots and the seekers, while he leisurely was given time to train his decepticons to become a force to be reckoned with. Soon the autobots not only faced seekers from the air, but also well trained decepticons on the ground.

First many vorns after the war began they changed their focus from aiming to physically damage the seekers to incapacitate them. With the shift in thoughts came new suggestions such as poison, virus and diseases. Instead of hitting the seekers from the outside, they would aim to get them from their insides.

However, even if the ideas were valid, they met obstacles that even Ratchet didn’t know anything about, even if he should have observed it in his care of Starscream.

The enhanced self-repair and nanites the seekers carried efficiently killed anything designed to harm the seeker when it entered the energon lines. So once more the autobots could only stare in exasperation as the seekers shook off the effect of the weapons without any damage caused.

It was finally Ratchet that realized what was the problem.

He after all had never seen his adopted creation catching any virus, disease or suffered from anything that had been poisonous. But he was able to sedate the seeker, like they always had been able to with the all forgotten sedative gun.

The seekers would neutralize anything intended to harm their systems, but the sedation was just sedation, and didn’t do any harm when it entered the seeker’s system, which was why it would be allowed to pass into the seekers systems and do what it was intended to do.

With that realization the old sedation gun was once more valued, and new and stronger sedatives were soon invented that would have a prolonged effect. Instead of wasting large amounts of ammunition to down a seeker a simple arrow was enough to take the seekers out.

Still the autobots had to accept that even with the new weapons invented they were hard pressed when facing the large armada of seekers. Not a single city state had been spared from attacks and the number of autobots became fewer and fewer with every vorn passing since the beginning of the war.

The latest target Megatron focused on was Iacon.

The capital city of the autobots had been faced with several attacks over the last vorn. It was no secret that even if the city still stood somewhat, it would only be a matter of time before it also fell. The only reason for the city to not be a complete ruin yet, like most of the other autobot strongholds, was due to is size.

The only light in the darkness reigning the planet was the fact that Megatron seemed to have taken a firmer control of the seekers. Instead of letting them continue the attack until no more adversaries was alive he would order them to retreat with the decepticons when the purpose of the attack had been carried out. Sometimes it was to eliminate a certain autobot, other times it was to destroy essential structures the autobots desperately needed. Slowly he was weakening his enemy while at the same time showing some wicked sort of mercy.

Not that Ratchet and the other medics complained.

The retreat of the seekers usually made it possible for them to save a larger amount of the injured and dying autobots littering the battlefield, before the seekers happened to fall upon them and devour those who they had a chance to save.

That was the worst part in it all.

The decepticon forces tended to leave the autobots they downed alive however heavily injured. The seekers on the other servo were merciless and went for the kill instantly. Those lucky facing off against the decepticons however still had to hope that a field medic would come by and drag their sorry afts off the battlefield before any seeker found them first.

Many of the autobots they lost in their battles was due to the seekers reaching their prey before the medics. Ratchet had had enough experience with making his way towards an injured autobot to only watch a seeker swoop down and rip into the injured autobot. The screams as the mechs was eaten alive was something that haunted everyone when the klaxons announced a new approaching attack and the repeat of the nightmare.

At the moment the autobot CMO worked frantically to patch up an injured autobot before any seeker or decepticon spotted them. The unfortunate autobot had taken a stray shot to his leg and his energon was slowly pooling, being sucked up by the debris littering the ground.

Cursing as the energon line ruptured further, Ratchet added a new clamp to the leaking line in the open wound. Hiding behind the remains of a wall he hoped that they would be shielded somewhat until he was done patching the wound enough that they would be able to leave the battle field.

Sweeping a glance around at the sides where he could see his surroundings he momentarily froze in his work as the air was filled of the tell-tale of seeker engines.

It was a pair of engines every autobot was able to recognize this far into the war.

Overhead the Winglord blasted by in high speed, circling the area further ahead of them.

Biting back the curses that threatened to leave his vocalizer at the sight he began to work more frantically. 

With the blue monster this close to them, they really needed to get out of there.

Out of his line of sight, the medic didn’t see an autobot a dozen feet away from where he was working raise a weapon at the Winglord and fire at the seeker.

First when the shot was fired did Ratchet jerk his helm up to see what had happened.

Looking over the crumbled wall he saw the ‘bot who had fired the shot and as his optics followed the target he vocally cursed, uncaring that anyone heard him this time.

In the air the arrow with the sedation rapidly flew towards its target.

A weak hope filled the medic as he watched the trajectory of the projectile carrying the sedation. It didn’t seem like the blue monster was aware of the projectile.

The seekers had become more aware since the autobots had begun to use the sedation guns and their wings were tuned to register the small projectiles. The sound of the shot was also something that they seemed to have imprinted into their instincts and half of the times a sedation shot was fired, the seeker managed to avoid the small projectile.

It was just like what Thundercracker had done all those many vorns ago in the amphitheater when Hound had fired his gun at the Winglord.

Then as the projectile was almost at the blue seeker, another seeker appeared in the trajectory, taking the shot aimed at the Winglord into itself.

“Of course.” Ratchet muttered disappointed.

Where the blue monster was the black and purple seeker was too. It was common knowledge that the large blue seeker always was together with the teleporting black and purple one and that the two protected each other viciously.

The medic watched the black and purple seeker, which had emerged from a purple mist, lose its control and tumble to the ground with a sickening sound.

Returning to his patient he gestured for the autobot to be silent.

A klik later what he had waited for happened.

Like the Unmaker, the blue monster with a roar of madness lands on top of the autobot that has shot at it, crushing the smaller mech completely by the sheer force at its impact with the ground. The whole area shakes as the Winglords thrusters connect with the ground and the crumbling wall protecting Ratchet and the other autobot from sight can’t take the onslaught of force upon it. The weakened structure in the wall falls apart, revealing the two autobots completely to their surroundings and the very angry seeker not far away from them.

However it seems they for once are lucky, the blue seeker keeping its focus on the autobot now crushed under it and when that didn’t interest it anymore, its optics turns to that of the black and purple frame a bit further away, in the other direction of Ratchet and his patient.

As the seeker begins to walk away from them the medic lets out a soundless sigh in relief.

But of course Primus weren’t with him. As Ratchet returns to his patient, trying to finish his work as fast as possible while watching the seeker out of the corner of his optics, he realize that the autobot he is treating has entered a panic at the sight of the large seeker this close.

Before Ratchet can stop him, the autobot he is treating is fumbling with his weapon, charging it frantically at the form of the departing seeker.

First Ratchet thinks that the seeker hasn’t heard the weapon, as it just continues in its walk. But then it suddenly stops and its wings begin to twitching now and then, the tips of the large sheaths of plating bending in small jerks. When the wings suddenly stiffen, Ratchet knows; he just knows that it has sensed them. But to his surprise it doesn’t do anything, instead it walks further away.

Frowning at the strange behavior, the medic gauges the seeker a moment more before he accepts their luck. Taking hold of the weapon, he tries to wrestle it out of the other autobots hands.

“Stupid. Idiot. You want to die so badly?” he hisses at the other.

Away from the two autobots, Thundercracker kneels beside Skywarp, stroking a claw at his mate’s cheek. The teleporter has taken some damage from the fall from the air as he was forced into recharge, taking the arrow intended for Thundercracker. He is thankful for his mate for doing that, however to see him this vulnerable worry the Winglord. Around them the battle still resumes and a fallen seeker is easy prey for their enemies.

Coughing the nanite rich substance from the sack in his throat he begins to heal the smaller wounds and seals off the larger to allow the systems to regrow the needed parts that the fall has severed completely from Skywarps frame. His wings are the worst. Without the seeker conscious in the fall his mate didn’t manage to wrap the wings securely around his frame to save the delicate surface of the bottom side of his wings.

Skywarp would not be joining him in battle for the next many fights. It took time to regrow the wings and let them harden to functionality.

As he prepares to gather his mate and bring him to safety, Thundercracker once again becomes aware of the two grounders not far away. Turning around to gauge what is going on, his optics lands on the weapon one of them holds in its servo, the two grounders seemingly arguing in their crude language. The weapon wasn’t pointed at anything, but its sheer presence this close to his vulnerable mate ticks off the Winglords protective instincts, the threat assessment raising the autobots from mere nuisance to a real threat.

He had learned the hard way to not trust any grounder however passive it seemed, and he regretted his previously acceptance of their presence.

But there was a way to deal with that.

With a fierce growl he was in motion, his claws flexing in preparation as he initiated the jump that would bring him behind the two autobots.

It still amazed Ratchet how agile the large seekers could be even on the ground. He only had a short moment of alert before the blue seeker practically was on them, and its claws just missed him, digging into the other autobot. As he watched, the seeker firmly made quick process of what he had spent his last ten breems trying to save from exactly this fate. However he only managed a short feeling of anger before his self-preservation pended him to get away.

He almost let out a hysterical laughter at the stupidity of that pending feeling. He was between the legs of the monster. This close to the seeker he would not at any chance get away from its reach. He knew that he was as good as dead and nothing could save him.

Looking at the now discarded weapon on the ground he contemplated if he should make a try, while the seeker still was occupied with the other autobot, who surprisingly still was alive, according to the loud screams of pain emitted from above.

Then suddenly he was out of time. The mangled corpse of the autobot dumped to the ground beside him, the mechs energon splattered all around and on the medic himself.

Daring a look up as the seeker still had to take hold of him, he looked directly into the red optics. If he ever survived this encounter he knew, that those optics would haunt him in his recharge. How optics could be filled with so much hatred he didn’t know. As the gaze lingered he saw the optics now and then flicker. He wasn’t sure if he imagined it or if he really saw orange replacing the red in those flickers.

Thundercracker didn’t know what held him back from just grabbing the other grounder and rip it to shreds. Sniffing, he let the scent from the surroundings grace his olfactory sensors. It only caused him to grow even more confused. His surroundings were filled with the usual scents of a battleground with the destruction of materials and leaking of fluids. But another scent was mingling with the rest this time.

The urge told him to kill the being before him, while his coding protested viciously against that prompting.

Crouching down the scent grew and the coding finally suppressed the urge to kill.

The being beneath him smelled like seeker.

His optics saw a grounder.

His processor couldn’t comprehend what was going on. Not only did the grounder? smell like a seeker, it smelled like a special type - an immature one.

Narrowing his optics he reached his clawed servos towards the being to lift it.

Ratchet only saw the claws coming towards him and sensed his death approaching, unable to know what went through the processor of the seeker.

As he felt the dangerous claws reach his plating he waited for the pain to begin and his life to end. He definitely didn’t expect the delicate way he was cradled in the claws and lifted from the ground. Swallowing a surprised yelp as he left the ground, he looked up into the seeker’s optics again.

Now they had turned completely orange and didn’t hold that fierce hatred. Still they didn’t look sane.

Optic to optic with the monster that haunted every autobot, Ratchet valiantly kept the gaze, waiting for whatever would be coming next.

To his surprise it began a long tirade of beautiful sounds, and he realized that it was talking to him. Shocked he listened to the sounds coming from the seeker and could recognize some of Starscreams vocal bury in it. 

His knowledge of the seekers language hadn’t increased over the vorns, he still only understood little of what Starscream said when the seeker used its vocalizer. Now he really regretted not knowing the language. He wondered what the seeker was saying to him.

Canting his head as he studied the being in his servos, Thundercracker felt a longing swelling in his spark. The scent of an immature seeker as young as it was, barely coming out of its seekerlet stage filled him with pain at the memory of all the lost newsparks he and Skywarp had had to endure through all these vorns.

It seemed like something worked against them.

It was so serious that, as the newsparks continued terminating and Skywarps spark suffering from each of them, they had registered that the submissive seeker even began to have longer between each heat cycle.  
It went so far that Skywarp at the moment no longer entered heat anymore. The last many vorns the submissive seeker had been barren, his fertility faded completely.

With the war raging and the unavoidable loss among his people, the feeling of the terminating newsparks grew on Thundercracker just like the feeling of his people dying one after another and releasing from his spark. The Winglord and his mate could no longer be seen as sane. Seekers were created to create. It was a major part of their cycle in life to mate and give life. For a seeker to not be able to reproduce; it simply drew them crazy then later insane.

/What are you? You smell like a seeker but look like enemy… too large also… shouldn’t be this high… immature? Yes. Definitely. No wings?/ the Winglord inquired interested. He let a claw grace Ratchets back where the wings should have been.

At this moment Ratchet was in Primus’ favor.

Before the Winglord could do more than study him, and turn on him when it realized that it in fact WAS a grounder the seeker held and not an immature seeker as the Winglords olfactory sensors deceived him to think, the medic’s predicament had been discovered and a large force of autobots was moving towards him and the blue seeker.

As he registered the large amount of armed grounders cornering him Thundercracker let out a hiss, baring his fangs and flaring his wings violently, telling them to back off.

“Autobots. Stop! Let it have some space. We don’t want to aggress it further.” the voice of the Prime sounded through the battlefield.

At the command the autobots stopped any further advancing on the seeker and waited for further orders.

Optimus had become a skilled leader over the hundred vorns that had passed since the beginning of the war. Still he didn’t like killing. Still he hoped to solve the conflict with peace.

The Prime was with the group solely because the victim of the seeker was his CMO and simply because the blue seeker was the largest threat among their enemies. To be this close to it, while it didn’t fought as a first time for every autobot present.

The dozen feet parting the seeker from the Prime showed how massive it really was. And the frame of Ratchet held in its clutches and firmly cradled to its frame made the size differences even more pronounced.

It worried the Prime that Ratchet didn’t say anything and didn’t move.

Was the medic hurt?

Why hadn’t the seeker killed Ratchet?

Questions rose from his meta as he studied the blue seeker.

Further away some of his autobots was joining the group as well and he made a gesture for them to back away. Their path however ended closer to the unconscious Skywarp, and as Thundercracker out of the corner of his optics saw the enemy come closer to his mate he let out a deep threatening growl and turned his attention to the grounders suddenly becoming the most threatening to him and his mate, disregarding the large group of grounders surrounding him.

He didn’t like to have to release the mystery the being in his servos were, but his highest priority at that moment was his mate.

Abruptly releasing the medic, Thundercracker stalked towards the autobots closest to his mate. As those slowly backed away, and luckily for them away from the downed seeker, the Winglord grunted at them. Walking past the enemies so clearly rolling with fear Thundercracker gathered his mate and was in the air kliks later.

As the seeker left every autobot let out a breath they hadn’t realized they had held.

The seekers were so unpredictable that the encounter just as well could have turned out violently.

Their group might had stood a chance against the large blue monster, with the Prime among them, but no one could have been sure they would have been able to down in. This close the sedation gun was too large a risk, since the new potent blend was lethal for any of the autobots if it entered their systems.

Walking towards the medic who still lay prone where the seeker had left him, Prime hoped his CMO was okay.

Kneeling beside Ratchet, Optimus was relieved to see that the medic was awake and wasn’t damaged.

“Ratchet?” he asked.

“I’m still alive?” the medic asked incredulously.

“Very much, yes.” Optimus answered.

“Thank Primus. I was so sure I was dead.” The medic sighed in relief.  
Looking up in the air, the Prime could see the seekers retreating. The all followed the large blue seeker as it flew away from the battleground.

Not the first time he wondered what it was with the blue seeker. What position did it hold to have the other seekers follow it like that?

In the distance he could see the decepticons still battling with the autobots. Not all of the battle seemed over, but at least the seekers didn’t press them from the air anymore.

“Let’s get you back to base. Enough battlefield triage for you.” He tried to tease his CMO. Primus would know Ratchet would be needed when they got the injured off the battlefield.


	20. Chapter 20

Iacon, the Autobot headquarters:

His close encounter with death had shaken the CMO enough that he couldn’t transform. His energy seemed to have been drained to a point where he even couldn’t stand. It was clear that the stressful situation with the seeker had taxed more on Ratchet’s systems than he liked. So when they realized that the medic wasn’t able to get off the battlefield by himself, the Prime had transformed and Ratchet had been stuffed into the Prime’s blue trailer, under loud protests from the medic himself. It was obvious that Ratchet didn’t like the undignified position, being carried away like any other of his patients.

Well underway back to the autobot headquarters he listened in on the reports the Prime received from around the battlefield.

When the information that Megatron finally had ordered retreat came, Ratchet slumped in relief back in the trailer.

No more killing that day at least.

Reaching the hidden base in Iacon, Optimus waited for the autobots that had followed him to move Ratchet from his trailer when they were out of sight. After that he transformed and gathered the medic in his servos began to carry the struggling medic further into the base.

Coming to the medical wing, Ratchets own territory the medic vocally demanded to be let down.

Finding his balance when Optimus gently placed him on his own pedes, the medic weakly strode into his medbay. Looking around, the rest of the medical team were milling among the many berths, treating the injured that had already been collected from the battlefield.

Being in well-known surroundings where he was more at home than at the battlefield, the energy slowly returned to the CMO, and before long he voiced out orders and demanded reports. With a smile Optimus left Ratchet as the CMO proved that at least at the moment he was back to his usual mood.

Heading for his office, ready to receive reports from Prowl about what they had lost in this fight, Optimus strode down the large corridor away from the medical wing.

He didn’t make it far before a small agile frame in high velocity passed by him.

Turning around and looking at the departing frame, he let out a little chuckle as he saw the bumping wings on Starscreams back. They signaled both joy and uncertainty.

He was sure the little seeker had sensed some of the feelings Ratchet had had during his encounter with the seeker.

Turning around and resuming his walk towards his office, he contemplated the positive effect the sight of Starscream would have on Ratchet. It would surely mend some of the stress still lingering to have the little seeker around.

However he knew that Starscream would be requested to help later.

The battle had destroyed a large part of the still standing city, and the whole battlefield was a mess.  
Back at the medical wing, Starscreams small thrusters let out clinking and clanking sounds as he skidded around several corners to come before the doors into the large medbay where a new fight for the medics was going on.

Panting he skidded to a frantic halt. Taking a deep vent he calmed his spinning spark and cooled his heating inner circuitry.

Opening the doors slightly and taking a peek into the room, he instantly scented Ratchet in the air and without any thought he slammed the doors open and walked into the medbay, careful not to get in the way of anyone.

A happy chirr left his vocalizer as he saw his creator in the middle of the room, voicing out requests and orders to the others.

Before he could stop himself, he lunged for the medic and Ratchet yelped as the little seeker latched onto his legs with a vicious grip digging his claws into his armor.

Looking down his initial scowl vanished at the sparkling yellow optics greeting him.

Crouching down, coming optic to optic with the little seeker, which didn’t reach him beyond his hips when he stood, the CMO patted him gently on the helm, careful to avoid the wings.

“I am happy to see you too, little one.” Ratchet cooed to Starscream, his voice softening in a way it always did when he talked to his adopted creation.

A chirrup left the little seeker in confirmation that Starscream was indeed also happy to see his creator back. His wings twitched a bit in some kind of agitation and Ratchet wondered if it was the usual issue or if it was because Starscream had sensed something from him.

Lately the little seeker’s wings had begun to trouble him. They seemed to grow accordingly, but the right one was now fairly larger than the left, and it caused the seeker to be quite unstable in his movements. Only when Starscream flew did the problems vanish due to the now also larger tail sweeping at his back.

Frowning, Ratchet pointed at the wildly moving appendage and instantly Starscream curled the tail around his midsection.

The seeker knew to do so while especially in the medbay where mechs suddenly would move quickly if anything happened, and for the safety of the medics as well as the seeker, Ratchet had teached Starscream to curl the tail close to his frame to avoid accidents.

Gesturing to his spark and then gesturing wildly with his claws while supporting it with sounds from his vocalizer, the seeker began to ask about what he had sensed had filled the CMO the whole last cycle.

-A cycle prior-  
Starscream had felt the pangs of emotion coming from the medic, and they hadn’t been reassuring.  
Especially the weak acceptance coming from Ratchet, when the CMO realized that he wouldn’t be able to get away from the large Winglord had torqued Starscream.

The feeling he had gotten from his creator was an acceptance of death, and it had been covered in a dark color as it had seeped through their bond, greatly frightening him.

It had also confused him.

Ratchet rarely felt as defeated as he had the last cycle. Starscream was used to a vocal, arguing creator that now and then rose his vocalizer in heated arguments and had a tendency to turn a slight violent when mechs didn’t listen to him and got hurt by their own stupidity.

Even his now soft and gently antics weren’t normal.

Ratchet wasn’t one to give up, no matter how hard or bad it all seemed.

What could have caused his creator to divert from his usual way and simply give up fighting?

Lots of questions had entered the seekers processor while he had been home at base, feeling the emotions coming from his creator and not knowing what was going on.

When one of the autobots left at the base to protect it and monitor the battlefield and the parts of Iacon that the autobots still controlled, had been by his quarters, the seeker had been an emotional mess. It was luck that the ‘bot at that moment came by, because the seeker was about to move from his quarters to go and look for his creator.

He had to know what was going on.

Whatever was going on he knew that creator was in danger.

With a whine he had moved from his position on the floor and towards the doors, when the doors had opened and one of the others had been in his way.

Letting out a growl the seeker had expected the autobot to move. But he didn’t. A slight anger rising, more out of fear for his creator than any annoyance at the autobot, Starscream had flexed his claws visibly, letting out a hiss while his wings had rose slightly on his back.

Still the autobot didn’t move. Instead it just kept looking at the seeker with a bemused expression.

Then it had asked what was wrong.

Frustration at not being able to voice it out to the ‘bot the seeker had just let out a piteous whine and tried to push past the frame covering the exit of his quarters.

The seeker had learned common cybertronian during the last 100 vorns and understood it fluently, still his vocalizer didn’t allow for him to use the language himself. He still had to rely on his own language and gestures. It was frustrating to the seeker to not be able to communicate with his surroundings. The advanced communication device that would allow him a way to communicate was still on the development stage and would require a lot more time before it would be possible to integrate it into his systems.

Ratchet wanted it to be complete before he even dared to implement it in the seekers helm. Just a little mistake; a wrong discharge of energy from the device, or the seeker’s own systems rejecting it could be fatal for the seeker. So he wanted to have not just a prototype, but the exact device in his hands to test before doing the surgery.

With one of the scientist working on it being Wheeljack, the CMO knew that anything could happen to his adopted creation if anything in the device malfunctioned after it had been implemented. It wasn’t that he didn’t thrust the scientist but Wheeljack’s records of malfunctioning inventions were against him.

When the frame of the autobot didn’t move out of the way, Starscream turned to glare up at the mech, his yellow optics shining with disdain.

It seemed that the ‘bot finally understood and instead of moving out of the way, it had pushed the seeker back into the room, before crouching down and in a tone used on sparklings tried to explain to the seeker that Starscream had to wait for Ratchet – creator – to return.

/But he might not return./ Starscream had voiced out in his own language, and the autobot had just registered the trilling tones before it had turned and left.

The door had slid closed a klik later.

Hearing the pedes move away Starscream had keyed the door to open and had looked out into the corridor. He had watched the back of the autobot leave and had let out a sweet sound which in his own language wasn’t as flattering as it sounded to the audios of the autobots.

Then he had moved towards the exit of the base.

Keying the final exit to open, he had watched the huge doors slowly slide aside to allow him to exit the base. As the opening grew wider he began to hear the distant sounds of weapon firing and bombs exploding. A weak shake could be felt up through his thrusters now and then.

The fine-tuned newer addition to his frame had developed from the base of his pedes and was extremely sensitive. Where his pedes had looked much like those of the autobots aside from the seeker having his talons, they now looked nothing like the squarely appendages the autobots moved around on.

The growth of the thrusters had been extremely painful.

The delicate new framework had emerged during a few orns, with the frame remodeling his pedes, moving mass of metal around almost visibly. Ratchet had guessed that the reason for the rapid way it remodeled was because of the delicacy of the forming hardware. In the stage of development, his pedes – now turned thrusters – wouldn’t be able to hold his weight and to avoid crippling the seeker for a longer period of time the remodeling was coded to be that fast.

When he finally had been able to get onto his feet again after orns of lying prone on his berth in pained agony, Starscream had been introduced to a new pain. The newly formed thrusters needed to harden and during that time pangs of pain would come from the new additions. Not only that, but he had to get used to a new way of walking. He was no longer able to just walk like the rest of the autobots. No, now the thrusters forced him to sway a bit while walking.

It felt so awkward.

As he was about to engage his thrusters to move towards the sounds of battle where he knew that his creator was the seeker had been tackled from behind.

Letting out an undignified screech Starscream had fallen to the ground, flailing with claws and wings to get away from what had tackled him. 

“Starscream! No!” the autobot had yelled at him and had wrapped his arms firmly around the small seekers wings and chest, restricting the seeker completely from doing any harm to itself and the autobot.

Unable to move, Starscream had deflated without much of a fight. Looking up into the sky he let out a keen, a weak call for his creator.

As the doors closed, closing out the view of the sky, the seeker willingly let the other guide him into the base again.

Then the autobot had done something that had surprised Starscream. The mech had hugged him! Had talked to him in almost that same soothing voice Ratchet used when he was out of it.

“I know you can feel it, Starscream. He is going to be okay. Prime is there with him. He will get him home. Don’t worry.” The autobot had cooed reassuringly, and only because what he was told was the truth did the seeker relax. He would have smelled any lie in the statement.

At that Starscream hadn’t been able to hold onto his emotions anymore. Letting out tirades of keening and wailing sounds he had let the autobot hug him as he voiced out all his fears. As the time went on his energy slowly dwindled and he entered a light form of recharge in the embrace. He could almost pretend it was his creator; still he wasn’t able to fool his olfactory sensors, which told him the truth.

The moment Optimus requested entrance into the base; Starscream had been on his thrusters running for the medical wing where he knew his creator would be headed.  
-Back at the present-

And now it was a huge relief to finally be able to ask the questions that had filled his processor.

Finishing the gestures he looks into Ratchet’s optics waiting for his creator to answer his questions.

Looking at Starscream, Ratchet wonders how he is going to explain everything.

The little seeker knows of the war and what war does to the people around him. He has seen the battle ready autobots when the klaxons alert them to a new impending attack. And he has seen the destruction of the planet the times he is allowed outside. The concept of people dying isn’t foreign either. But for the possible death to get this close to the seeker himself… Ratchet doesn’t know if Starscream can handle it.

Leading the seeker to a free berth, Ratchet lifts the seeker onto it before he sit down beside it, looking into the interested optics shining with remnants of fear.

Taking a deep breath he begins to explain.

“I was out there with the others as you knows, helping those that were unlucky enough to get injured. Working on a mech that had taken a shot to his leg, I hid behind this wall.” The medic began.

Seeing that Starscream understood he continued to the hard part.

“I got taken by surprise by one of the largest of our enemies, one of the most dangerous. An autobot not far from me got its attention by stupidly firing on it, and after it had killed the autobot, my hiding spot was revealed.” Seeing the fear growing in the yellow optics, Ratchet reached and hugged the little seeker. 

“Shhh. It is okay. I am here. And I am alive.” He tried to sooth. Some of the incredulity at his own luck still lingered as he said those words.

“My patient chose that moment to panic and began to charge his weapon at it. Before that, it seemed like the enemy didn’t care about us, but when it saw the weapon our fates were sealed. It was on us kliks later. My patient died at its servos, while I myself was caught in a dilemma. I am sorry Starscream. I had given up at that moment. There weren’t much I could do to avoid my fate. I was sure I was as good as dead.” Ratchet explained and some guilt filled him as Starscream clung viciously to him after those words. The little seeker let out a small whine and Ratchet could feel how Starscream filled their bond with pleas for him to never give up and leave him.

“Then I was lucky that others had realized the danger I was in and was coming to save me.” He finished inelegantly nuzzling the helm of the seeker fondly.

He deliberately had left out the fact that the enemy had been a seeker. It was still a major secret kept from Starscream. It was agreed upon by every mech living in the base, by orders from the command that no one voiced anything about the seekers out loud in the closeness to Starscream.

As far as Starscream knew he was an autobot at spark even if his frame was different from those around him. If the seeker was to know of the large society of fliers that he originally came from, Ratchet feared that Starscream would enter an identity crisis, maybe even leave them. And that would break the CMO’s spark as well as that of Hounds.

So they kept the fact that their enemy were seekers a secret and hoped that Starscream would never learn the truth.

At the last sentence Starscream voiced out a sound that Ratchet had become as familiar with as when Starscream said his or Hounds names.

“Yes. It was Optimus.” Ratchet smiled at the seeker.

A loud happy trill left the seekers vocalizer.

-Flash backs-  
Yes. Optimus had become an important part of Starscreams life ever since that orn where the seeker had barged into the medbay and almost had died at the servo of the Prime.

The Prime had become fond of the little seekerlet since then and had not long after his first meeting with Starscream asked the adopted creators if they would accept him as the little seekerlets guardian.

As the only seeker not under decepticon control Starscream had become important.

With the role as guardian to the seekerlet, Optimus had taken it upon his shoulders to protect and shield it from any threat from the surroundings.

It was mainly because of the Prime that it had been possible for them to keep Starscream a secret to both fractions up until the hidden autobot headquarters in Iacon was finished fifty vorns after the beginning of the war and the troops gathered under the same roof.

At that point the secrecy could no longer be kept on the autobot side.

The first time Ratchet went to study his new domain in the medical wing, Starscream had been cradled firmly in his servos.

The seekerlet had grown through those fifty vorns, and was no longer able to sit on the shoulders of his creators. Instead they had to cradle him, if the seekerlet didn’t just hover by their sides. But going into this foreign surroundings Ratchet had wanted Starscream close to avoid the seekerlet straying away from him.

The sight of a seeker in the base had caused lots of flabbergasted looks from the other autobots, and not a few catcalls about it not belonging there.

Ratchet had defused the anger quite easily; flinging wrenches to the right and left as opinions was voiced. But it only silenced completely when Optimus announced his present stance with the seekerlet as Starscreams guardian.

No one dared to go against the Prime on his decision.

Still the acceptance of the seekerlet was slow.

When Starscream entered the rec room for the first time, and alone, he had caused a complete disaster.

Skittish after vorns of dealing with seekers, the mechs in the room hadn’t taken lightly to the seekerlet gliding into the room.

Weapons had been fired.

However the outcome of the whole incident had been scary for the battle hardened mechs.

It had been one little seekerlet against a dozen autobots.

Out of them all only Starscream remained standing, his own internal weapons on the show on his shoulders.

As skilled as Ratchet had been when he fifty vorns prior to the incident had locked away Starscreams access to his weapons, the seekerlets coding had squashed the heavy coding the medic had put on the activation sequence and the weapons had activated at the danger to the seekerlet.

Being older Starscream had been in complete control of the weapons, and fortunately for the autobots only the pinkish beams had been unleashed. Back when the weapons had activated for the first time, they hadn’t been potent. However time had changed that as the seekerlet had grown. Instead of just numbing the surface of the hit, the pink beam completely paralyzed the mech.

When some of the officers had entered the rec room to get their ornly ration, they had been greeted by the sight of the twelve autobots laying prone on the floor and a scared seekerlet cowering among them all. 

Ever since respect had been paid to Starscream and he had been commonly accepted when the mechs realized what could have happened if Starscream hadn’t been thoughtful enough to not use his laser.

Still they wondered how it was possible for the seekerlet to come out of it without a scratch on its plating. 

The security feed clarified that mystery in slow-motion.

They had all watched astounded when they witnessed the agility of the little seekerlet.

Good natured banter had followed the incident, mostly teasing the unfortunate mechs at the receiving end of Starscream nullrays as they dubbed the weapon.  
-End flash backs-

Announcing his presence to the CMO and his adopted creation Jazz tapped slightly on the door before he entered the medbay.

“Sorry Ratchet. I need ta borrow Starscream.” The TIC told the CMO.

With a sigh the medic turned to look at the black and white mech.

“Your turn to follow him?” the CMO asked casually, like it was normal for mechs to come and ask for Starscream, which it had become. However the purpose to which they needed the aid of the seeker weren’t and Ratchet still didn’t approve completely of the way they put Starscream at risk.

“Yeah. Field has been swept. Don’t worry, he will be safe.” Jazz said, while digging in his subspace for the device that would be needed when they got outside.

Handing the little device to the medic, Ratchet reluctantly placed it between Starscream wings and activated it.

“I will reformat you if he returns with as much as a scratch.” The medic warned as he watched Starscream leave the medbay with the saboteur.

“Love ya too Ratchet.” Jazz responded with a toothy grin.

Out of sight of the medic Jazz looked down at the seeker who only reached as high as his hips.

“Ready for a flight Starscream?” he asked, his voice not showing anything about the serious work they were about to do.

A nod was the only reply he got from the seeker.

Back in the medbay, Ratchets gaze lingered on the doors until they closed.

He hoped Starscream would be safe in his duty.

He had argued a lot with the officers when the suggestion of implementing Starscream in the troops had been voiced. He had denied them for a long time and he and Hound had agreed that the war was nothing for their adopted creation.

However, as the losses of life grew and grew and the arguments from the officers became more valid, Ratchet had found himself doubting.

He could see the point of using the seeker, utilizing some of Starscreams natural strengths and sate the seeker’s code deep needs at the same time.

Still Starscreams safety had kept him from agreeing. He simply feared that even if Starscream didn’t know of the seekers and didn’t find any signs of them on the battlefield, the seekers would find Starscream if the little seeker was that much out in the open.

Then fate had decided to make its move and during a cycle where Starscream was allowed to stretch his wings, the seeker had suddenly deviated completely from his flight path, going into the zone of Iacon that at that time had been a complete ruin being the target of an attack several cycles prior.

It had turned into a hunt on the seeker, both to avoid Starscream being exploited to their enemies as well as keep the secret about the seekers’ presence in the attacks. Usually the seekers managed to clear the battlefield, taking their injured and dead with them, only leaving the parts that had been severed from the frames as any evidence of their presence in the attacks. But now and then a frame of a dead or dying seeker was left behind.

The autobots on the ground had tried to follow the seeker as it flew further and further into the destroyed area.

Several breems later when they had been about to give up giving chase to the seeker, Starscream had suddenly begun to circle an area. When the autobots had arrived at the area below the seeker, they had been greeted by the sight of a large building that had collapsed during the last fight.

Ratchet had been contacted to try to explain Starscreams strange behavior, and when the CMO had received the information, he had asked the autobots at the spot to investigate the ruins of the building. Ratchet knew that Starscream now and then couldn’t stop follow instincts and that most of the behavior that was strange to the autobots was deep seeker code that the seeker might not be able to explain.

When they began the work, the autobots was skeptic.

But when cycles of digging and removing debris passed they were greeted by the sight of intact base structure and a basement sealed off.

The instant the entrance to the basement had been revealed the seeker had shot down from the sky and had begun to claw franticly at the bolts closing the door into the basement. When they had tried to stop Starscream they had received warnings in the form of menacing growls.

The seeker was then left to his work while they watched the doors sealing the basement slowly fall under the onslaught from the seeker.

When the entrance finally caved in and opened under the force, Starscream had let out a soundly grunt and had scented the air. It seemed that he had found what he had looked for, since a content purr had left his vocalizer before he had entered the basement.

Not long after that small screams sounded from the entrance together with several purrs from the seeker.

The autobots following the seeker down the basement was greeted by a shock.

There in the darkness was the seeker snuggled firmly around a pair of younglings. Starscream was protectively cradling the smaller forms to his chest and covering them somewhat with his wings.

When the autobots tried to get closer to help the younglings, Starscream had voiced a dangerous warning, his optics glinting dangerously at his team mates.

It was only when they contacted Ratchet and got the CMO to come that Starscream allowed anyone close to the younglings who were clearly put off by the acts of the seeker. Simply because it was a seeker. They had grown up in the war and had known the evilness done by the very frame type that now lay snuggled firmly around them.

It had been an optics opener to the CMO. He had to accept that if it wasn’t for Starscreams increased sensitivity they would never have found the younglings alive.

Since that orn he had accepted the request for Starscream to join them in the clean up after battles. The seeker would be able to more easily locate those injured and alive among the dead and debris littering the battlegrounds, finding the survivors of the battle faster and increase the chance for them to survive the injuries.

The device placed between Starscreams wings had been the only demand from Ratchet, if he was to let Starscream into any post-battle areas to sweep it for survivors. And the areas had to be swept for any trace of the seekers before Starscream was let into it. The device had been created from the same concept following Mirage’s cloaking device and would make Starscream invisible in the air, while Jazz on a monitor could follow Starscream from the ground.

It had become benefitting for both parts.

Starscream got his need for hunt sated, making the search for the survivors into a game, while the autobots got to the injured faster than they would have been able to on their own.

With a sigh Ratchet returned to the other medics working all around him. He had his own duty to perform instead of worry unnecessarily.

He knew Jazz would keep Starscream safe.

Turning to the medics he began to yell out requests and give orders, making order in the chaos filling the medbay.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We move in time again. From 100 vorns in last chapter to 1000 vorns into the war.

1000 vorns into the war:

Iacon:

Starscream lounged on the edge of one of the crumbled buildings in the now completely destroyed Iacon, looking at the sinister skyline showing all the broken and fallen buildings around him.

He had borrowed the device that they had invented for him to make him invisible for the decepticons when he was outside the hidden autobot base. Starscream had needed some time away from the hidden base which had begun to give him claustrophobic tendencies if being underground for too long.

He could feel when the need to get outside arose in him; black dots would enter his vision and would slowly cover more and more of his sight, while his venting would speed up like he was straining his systems, even if he just lay prone on his berth. But the most irritating symptom that showed when he needed to get out of the base was related to his wings, they would begin to crawl with an annoying itching feeling all over the sensitive plating that he just WANTED to scratch and the only thing soothing the feeling was to get outside.

It was like he needed the sky more than just to fly in, like he HAD to see it, to get it completely under his plating before he was able to get underground in the base again.

And if he ignored the need, the urge to get outside would just grow inside him, causing him to be unpredictable in the mood and act out more violently against his friends and family. There had been one time where he had ignored it, the very first time where the need had escalated because he didn’t know what was happening.

It had caused him to enter a maddening rampart in the base, with his vision clouded in red, and before his optics friends had turned to foes, foes that he had needed to kill, to maim, to do something to. In his madness he had slashed at those of his friends and family that had been around him at that moment, reveling in their screams of pain and the scent of energon spilling from their frames. When they finally had managed to subdue him in his madness they had had to restrain him to a berth before Ratchet had been able to sedate him.

When he had seen the security feed he had been shocked to see how wild and bestial he had turned. They had had to fixate his frame from thruster to shoulder in straps to keep him on the berth he had been placed on to avoid his escape. After the incident he had needed some time to think about what had happened to him. The madness he had seen in his own optics on the security feed haunted the seeker and he promised to never let it get that far again. Luckily none of those he had attack had been damaged beyond repairs.

Ever since that orn he had maintained the need to get outside and flew as often as possible as well as spending time outside not necessarily flying. Studying his surroundings could be calming enough. 

The need to get outside had just really begun to pain him the last few hundred vorns. He knew that his frame type was different than those of his friends and family, but still couldn’t understand the need he felt as well as the claustrophobic tendencies that he now had to abide to remain mentally healthy. That no one else complained about being underground in the base annoyed him. He felt that he lately had addressed his creator with plenty of issues that seemed solely something he suffered from, and his creator hadn’t provided useful knowledge, just guesses.

Another issue troubling Starscream was his height. In the last few hundred vorns the seeker had grown from only reaching the autobots to their hip to now come even with most of the autobots around him. Only Optimus still towered over the seeker. What worried Starscream was the fact that his systems didn’t feel completely developed yet and that told him he wasn’t done growing. He wondered how much higher he would end than the mechs in his surroundings.

The seeker felt he spent a lot of time lately comparing himself to his surroundings and found the results he got troubling. Was he really that different?

“Hey Starscream!” someone yelled at the hidden entrance to the base not far away jolting the seeker from his thoughts. They could not see him but they knew he was there.

Looking down he saw the well-known golden and red frames of his friends.

Rising from his relaxed position he let himself dump to the ground, landing on his thrusters with a shake of the ground.

He had during the many vorns passing since he got his thrusters learned that his frame was radically sturdier than those of his friends and family and of course he wondered why that was…

If Sunny had done the trick Starscream just did, the twin would crumble on the ground, his legs not able to handle the force of the impact. But Starscreams rather delicate thrusters accommodated the force easily...

Ratchet had tried to explain it, but whatever the medic said, Starscream felt that there was something his creator didn’t tell him. He had smelled the unease with which Ratchet had gone into the topic and sensed some kind of lie in what the medic said or had left unsaid.

Walking towards his two friends, he could scent giddiness roll of the both of them. Their optics shone with eagerness and their smiles were ones he rarely had seen more wide.

Canting his helm he went by them and into the protection of the base before he removed the device and became visible to his surroundings again.

He didn’t make it further before they pounced on him, grabbing hold of his wings and dragged him further into the base.

“We finally got clearance.” Sideswipe cheered.

“So we wondered if you are in for some training?” Sunstreaker asked his voice not as unfriendly as it used to be.

“Are we talking ground or air combat?” The seeker asked, studying his two friends.

Sunstreaker, looking at Sideswipe nodded in understanding to whatever the red twin had said in their bond.

“Air.” They voiced in unity, their smiles turning ferocious.

“You know that Ratchet will have my helm if anything happens to you.” The seeker mock teased, before taking off towards the sparring arena.

Not able to keep up with the seeker, the twins just ran in their own tempo towards the arena and the match.

“Don’t be so sure of the victory Screamer.” Sideswipe crowed when they reached the sparring arena where the seeker was waiting.

Snorting, the seeker let out a lyrical sound from his vocalizer on his own language that the twins now knew was a mocking comment.

Sunstreaker growling at Starscreams cockiness moved to pounced at the slightly larger frame of the seeker.

Taking that as his queue, Starscream flicked his tail in a sweep making Sunstreaker back away, before he initiated his transformation.

The tail no longer needed to stabilize the seeker, since the growth of the wings had out leveled during the last many hundred vorns just folded into the frame of the seeker as the wings flicked into place finishing the seeker’s transformation.

Then before any of the twins could manage to jump him, Starscream engaged his engines and shot into the air, hovering mockingly just above the helms of the two grounders.

“Get me if you can.” The seeker singsongs as he began to gain altitude.

A look passed between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

::Ready Sunny?:: Sideswipe asked.

::Let’s take him down!:: Sunstreaker growled in acknowledgement.

A curt nod followed that comment and they both ran into the middle of the sparring arena.

Stopping in the middle they looked up to gauge Starscreams flight path. There weren’t much height in the room, but enough to make room for the seeker to maneuver in the air and keep them away from his frame.

As an opening revealed itself, Sideswipe was ready to hurl his twin into the air as a projectile towards the seeker before he engaged his jetpack and followed his twin in the air.

Around the large arena spectators gathered to watch the air combat.

It always drew attention when the twins and the seeker engaged in playful combat like this, and especially when the combat was in the air. The autobots had always had a sick fascination of the beings able to master the air, and that fascination wasn’t culled by the war and the fight against the seekers.

Sensing the twins coming at him, Starscream waited for a klik before he decided which side to swerve to, to avoid their attempt to mount him in the air. Feeling the air current swirl to his right he banked to the left, and could feel Sunstreaker pass by his side a few inches away from his wingtip.

An unseen grin formed on his lips.

“You can do better than that!” the seeker mocked as Sunstreaker landed on his pedes down below, not having engaged his parachute yet.

The golden twin shot the seeker a heated glare as he shook off invisible dust from his frame.

No longer paying attention to the twin on the ground, aware that Sideswipe was on his tail, Starscream entered a looped dive, attempting to get behind the red twin. He knew Sideswipe was vulnerable if he could get behind him. His jetpack was sufficient to get him into the air, but its maneuverability wasn’t good enough to act fast if the seeker got behind the twin.

As he almost touched the ground at the move to get behind the red frontliner, Sunstreaker tried to move onto him, the blunt digits scrapping at the plating of the left wing before Starscream began to ascend again.

Hissing at the faint sting of pain the scrapping caused in his wing, Starscream blocked out the feeling, focusing on the twin in the air.

Sideswipe seeing his move and knowing what Starscream intended, tried to intercept the move, making it useless for the seeker, by flying directly at Starscream, causing the seeker to have less room to maneuver in, in his attempt to get behind the twin.

Having to abort his ascend into the air for some precious kliks, to avoid a collision with the frontliner, Starscream cursed Sideswipe. Banking to increase the distance to the red twin, he made sure that Sideswipe couldn’t make a move on him.

“YOU can do better than that.” The red twin mocked back at the seeker. And he was right; Starscream should have been able to make that move a lot faster. But with the pain inflicted by Sunstreaker, it had taken a few nano kliks to block it and that had cost him his move.

Letting out a frustrated growl, Starscream hovered in the air, keeping the distance to the twin.

That left Sideswipe with the possibility to get Sunstreaker into the fight.

Diving for the ground he reached out a servo and connected with Sunstreakers.

Hauling his twin into the air, his jetpack complained, sounding more like it would short out at the weight. But they knew it could take it, it had done it plenty of times.

However bringing Sunstreaker into the air with him, made him vulnerable to any move from the seeker, even if Starscream would face a rather mobile Sunstreaker if he dared to come closer. They had practiced jumping from Sideswipe and onto the back of the seeker plenty of times and mostly it worked out well for the twins, if Starscream gave them the opening.

Narrowing his unseen optics, Starscream contemplated what to do.

Calculating the risks and the chances for the twins to succeed in mounting him, he decided to take it.

Flying towards them in high velocity, he kept at a distance that would require for them to be precise when Sunstreaker decided to jump for the seeker. He didn’t want to make it all that easy for them to get to him, and he wasn’t one to stay idle out of trouble like the one he knew he was flying into now.

This was after all training, and if he didn’t let them get a bit of him, they wouldn’t get much out of it.

Seeing the seeker charge at them, Sunstreaker stiffened in preparation for the jump that would bring him onto the seekers wings. When he landed he would have little time to gain his footing before the speed would throw him off the seeker.

::3…:: Sideswipe began in their bond.

::2…:: focusing on the seeker completely Sunstreaker lessened his grip on the red twin.

::1…:: flexing his leg joints he began the pre-jump that would give him enough force to launch from his twin and onto the seeker.

::Jump.:: Sideswipe announced, and with that Sunstreaker was in motion in the air.

The jump wasn’t graceful, but did what it was intended for, allowing for Sunstreaker to fly in an arch above the seeker as Starscream passed Sideswipe, and allowed for the golden twin to land securely on the middle of the seekers large frame, just between the wings.

Feeling the sudden weight on his back Starscream forced his engine to keep them at the altitude, while Sunstreaker found his footing on the seekers back. Feeling the weight shift and even out on his frame, he rolled a bit to the left and the right to test the twins footing.

Sunstreaker grabbed a hard hold of the seekers wing edge when Starscream began to roll to the sides, careful to stay on the seeker.

It was now that the real challenge began.

Either he got Starscream out of the air, or Starscream managed to throw him of his frame.

Down below the autobots had cheered at the twin as he had landed securely on the seeker. But now, when the first part of what had come to be name Jetjudo had been completed, they silenced again, waiting for the next step.

Who would get the better of the other?

At this phase betting had begun among the ones on the ground, some favoring the twins, some voting for Starscream to best the golden twin.

Uncaring of the voices of the mech down below, Starscream began his first true roll, forcing Sunstreaker to grab even harder onto his wing, leaving small dents at the underside. Ignoring the pangs of pain, he forced Sunstreaker to glue himself to the seekers frame to avoid getting thrown off by gravity until Starscream leveled out again with the twin on top.

“Still holding on?” Starscream asked as he leveled out.

“Yes, fragger.” Sunstreaker responded, focused on staying on the frame, knowing that the seeker would push him again soon.

As he had predicted Starscream began to roll the other way around, slowly oh so slowly to allow the gravity to really pull at the twin.

Clenching viciously at the wings, he tried to dig his pedes further into the seam he had dug them into before the first roll. As long as they stayed in the seam the strain on his digits around the wing wasn’t unbearable.

Leveling again, Starscream let out a hum of satisfaction. Sunstreaker was still with him, which meant more fun to be had. The twins had become quite good at staying with him during all their playing in the air and training in the arena.

“My turn.” Sunstreaker growled, before Starscream could begin a new roll.

Digging his digits into the ailerons he prevented the seeker from rolling again, and got a better hold of the wing. He also knew that Starscream wouldn’t try to press him too much if he had a hold there. The ailerons were one of the most delicate parts of the wings and hurt a lot when damaged.

Leaning to each side of the seeker, Sunstreaker would now be in control of which direction they flew. Had he had any intention of really damaging the seeker he would have forced Starscream either directly into the ground nose first or into any wall, making sure that the wings would take the brunt of the damage.

But with this being training and the seeker his friend he didn’t do that.

Instead he played around, learning how to steer the seeker around and get a feeling of how much force needed to be applied to the sides to get Starscream to roll, loop or dive. Playing with the flaps he got the seeker to ascend and descend on will.

Satisfied he released the ailerons after pushing the seeker as low as was safe before Starscream would crash, and jumped off the seeker and safely onto the ground.

It signified Sunstreakers victory.

However, Starscream wasn’t completely done.

Swooping down after ascending he transformed and grabbed Sunstreaker before he engaged his thrusters and shot to the air.

Reaching the highest spot in the room, Starscream gave the golden twin a smile of mischief before he let go.

Growling at the seeker and shooting Starscream a glare Sunstreaker fell towards the ground below.

Sideswipe flew by him, laughing at his twin.

Engaging his parachute Sunstreaker landed with a thud on the ground once more.

When Sideswipe landed, Sunstreaker pounced on his twin, and the two began to brawl on the ground, throwing punches at each other.

A bit from the two, Starscream landed silently on his thrusters, a wide grin showing on his lips as he looked at the fighting twins.

First when Ratchet entered the arena and flung wrenches at the two brawling figures did Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stop.

“You know the drill. Medbay. Now!” the CMO ordered.

Even if it hadn’t been one of the most damaging training sessions the three had engaged in, Ratchet wanted to make sure that nothing had been damaged by their recklessness.

Starscream just favored his creator with a grin, before he dutifully followed the twins out of the arena and towards the medical wing.

Entering the medbay less than a breem later, the twins and the seeker was happily talking about the clearance Sideswipe and Sunstreaker finally had received from the autobot command. They were now allowed on the battlefield with the other frontliners.

Ratchet just shook his head. He wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea to let the two onto the battlefield.

They didn’t know of the seekers, just like Starscream didn’t know. And Ratchet had a feeling that when they finally knew it would be their death.

They might be skilled at their Jetjudo, but put them out into reality against seekers who actually intended on killing them the first chance they got, he feared that he would have to collect their dead frames after their first fight.

Ordering the three onto berths, he called for one of the other medics, Triage, to take care of the twins, while he himself examined Starscream. From knowledge he knew that it often was the seeker that took the most damage in their scuffles.

As Triage joined the CMO, Starscream growled a warning and sent the other medic a heated glare.

Triage was new in their faction.

He was a decepticon deserter from when the autobots began to go into the offensive a few hundred vorns ago. The medic had defected the instant the autobots had attacked his city state, eager to help the autobots in their struggles. When asked why he wanted to defect, he had revealed that he was nothing more than a prisoner among his own people. Accepting his claim, based on the amount of decepticons that had been guarding the building in which the medic was found, the defecting decepticon had followed the attacking autobots back to their base, when scouts informed that the seekers were on their move to stop their advances.

It was imperative for the autobots to avoid the seekers in their attacks and they had turned to guerrilla warfare in their attack on the decepticons, with scouts keeping optics on the seekers and warn when the seekers began to move. With the strategy of hit and run attacks on the decepticon strongholds, the strain on the autobot bases around the planet was relieved.

When the defecting medic had arrived at the autobot headquarters in Iacon, the first meeting between the former decepticon and the young seeker had not been a good one.

Starscream had been irked at the stare the medic had sent him, when he saw the seeker for the first time. It had made the seeker feel like he didn’t belong… and that clearly wasn’t true.

Ever since that orn the seeker had hated the new medic for that feeling of not belonging. It had stirred the other uncertainties he now and then got.

“Shush Starscream! Not now.” Ratchet admonished. He knew of the seeker’s dislike of the other medic, but the seeker just had to accept the other medic at the moment.

Scanning the seeker, he instantly found the dents on the wings.

Examining the wings further he cursed and shot a glare at Sunstreaker. The twin had made a hole in the delicate plating on the underside of the wings.

“I don’t know why you accept this Starscream. It must hurt.” Ratchet commented the damage with an exasperated sigh.

Shrugging Starscream just ignored his creator. He had heard this speech so many times.

Seeing that no matter what he did or said, it wouldn’t get through to his creation, Ratchet just began the repair.

While he worked he couldn’t help thinking back to when the three troublemakers had been smaller troublemakers.

-Past-  
With grounders becoming playmates to a seeker, the usual rules changed and had to adjust to new scenarios when the playing field suddenly could be the sky and not the safe ground.

It had been safe enough for the red twin to play with Starscream in the air; having coding for a jetpack that he had gotten at the upgrade shortly after they had found the twins in the basement. Sunstreaker however didn’t have the security in a jetpack able to carry him if anything went wrong.

And wrong it went one orn.

It was simply pure luck that Starscream managed to slow Sunstreaker in his fall and instead of falling to his death, Sunstreaker had only suffered damage on the larger structures in legs and arms as well as having a huge dent in his helm. But if the fall had been just a bit more forceful the dent would have crushed vital parts in the golden twin’s helm.

With that experience Ratchet had installed parachutes in both the twins, and just hoped that the near fatality would calm them a bit in their play in the air.

However the parachutes if anything just made them more reckless and any lectures following had been to deafened audios.

Then one orn, vorns after the incident, the twins had become more skilled when playing in the air and for the very first time they managed to best Starscream in his element.

It had almost caused Ratchet to have a spark attack when he saw it.

The sight of his creation suddenly entering a uncontrolled spiraling descend from high in the sky, after one of Sideswipes moves against the seeker’s engine, had filled the medic with fear.

In his bond with the seeker he had he felt a slight fear mixed with a strange giddiness coming from Starscream as the seeker fell towards the ground.

As he watched the falling form from a distance he could calculate that the speed Starscream fell with slightly increased and Ratchet was sure that it was the end for the young seeker.

With only a dozen feet between the seeker and the ground, the CMO had fought the urge to look away from what he felt was his creations death. Apathy had filled him with the realization that it would be impossible for Starscream to survive that fall. He had felt useless with all his medical knowledge and not being able to avoid his creation getting hurt.

He had seen the wild seekers fall from the sky plenty of times during the vorns of war, and knew that even those mature seekers was crushed against the unforgiving ground.

Just before the impact, the youngling seeker managed to fold his wings around his frame like the medic had seen done countless of times by the wild seekers and he had for a moment wondered if it was pure code in the seeker making it do so, at least if it was conscious in its fall.

When the shake of the ground announce the impact, Ratchet was on the move instantly, locating the area of the impact.

Reaching the area of the impact, Ratchet had been shocked first to see so much damage done to the surroundings and feared the state of Starscream if the destruction around the crater was anything to go by. 

Optics locating the seeker after the debris in the air slowly settled, his gaze fixed on the prone frame of his creation.

To his relief the seeker at least was venting. Not death, venting. He had had to tell himself as he stared at the seeker in disbelief.

Before he managed to do anything but stare, Starscream began to move.

That was even more of a shock to the CMO.

Not listening to the protests from his creator for the seeker to lay still, Starscream rose from the crater, and just shook his frame and vibrated his wings.

Ratchet had been greatly bemused that the seeker didn’t look more damaged.

Then when Starscream had moved to take to the air, Ratchet finally had made it out of his stupor and had in high tones ordered the seeker back to base before he even thought about doing anything.

Following the seeker back to the base, Ratchet hadn’t been able to not shoot the twins an angry glare. And to his satisfaction they both looked sheepish when they followed the departing frames of their friend and his creator to the medbay.

Not that it had stopped them from their dangerous game. Ever since that orn they had upped the stakes and played even more recklessly in the air.  
-Present-

Looking to see how Triage fared taking care of the twins, the CMO wondered how strange it must be for the former decepticon to be among autobots and live with the suspicious glances that Ratchet had observed the former decepticon now and then received from some of the autobots.

Starscream wasn’t the only one disliking the medic.

But Ratchet and the autobot command knew that Triage was sincere in his defection.

The former decepticon had provided them with extremely valuable decepticon Intel and especially knowledge of the seekers. When Triage had told them the knowledge he possessed they understood why he had been kept like a prisoner among his own.

The former decepticon had been able to answer a question which they had wondered about and tried to get an answer to ever since the war began: How was Megatron able to control the seekers.

What Triage had told them had been some of a surprise.

He had begun with in-depth explanations of seekers and their society, sharing knowledge he had received from Megatron himself. The interrogation of the former decepticon had turned into a lesson favoring seekers from Leadership over their advanced society before Triage had explained his own knowledge about their health and healing abilities as well as their reproduction.

Then he had in very vivid details described the way Megatron had planned the ambush on the leader of the seekers and its mate using that very knowledge. To learn that the large blue monster of a seeker was the leader came with little surprise. They had through the vorns fighting the aerial transformers watched the interaction between the blue seeker and the rest of the fliers with wonder. It was clear that it held importance. With that new knowledge came also the understanding of why the black and purple seeker always was seen with the blue seeker and why the two protected each other that viciously. Of course a mated pair would act like that.

When Triage began to describe the device Soundwave had implanted inside the helm of the blue seeker and the function of the device, Ratchet had recognized the description and remembered the report he had made on the guard about a device sounding much like the one the former decepticon described.

Finding the report, he had enlightened the autobot command about the deeper specifics of the device that Triage held little to no knowledge of, not having had the device in his own servos to study. Listening to the explanations made by the CMO, Triage had been able to, from the information provided by Ratchet and the report, to verify that it indeed was the same type of device.

With that knowledge they finally had an answer to their question.

Still no solution came out of it, since they knew that no one would be able to do what Megatron had done back then to enslave the seekers.

To undo it, they would need access to the seeker to remove the device.

Something that was impossible.

Megatron had surprised the seeker back then. There was no chance for them to surprise the seeker now. And even if they managed to score a hit on the seeker and sedate it, they still had the whole armada of seekers to have in mind. And with the position they now knew the blue seeker held among its own people, they were certain that any attack made on the seeker that succeeded in subduing it wouldn’t be ignored by the rest of the fliers.

At the end of the interrogation Prowl had asked the former decepticon about the origin of the knowledge he held that hadn’t been provided the medic by the former Lord High Protector. At the question the defecting medic had paled and his optics had turned distant, haunted by vivid images he had tried to erase from his memory.

Then with a sigh Triage had confessed his own involvement in the process of enslaving the seekers, confessing that he had been there at the ambush. Explaining the reason for his partaking in the act, he told them about the hopes he had had back then to gain more knowledge of the seekers. He admitted that he had been naïve and thought that he could avoid getting caught up in the atrocities done to the seekers. His feelings about what had transpired that orn, was the reason for his imprisonment, a light sentence for him while his medical team had been sentenced to death.

With only a slight hesitation he had offered them access to his memory of the ambush to verify his words. At that, they had all connected to the medic through hardline and watched the memories the former decepticon still held of the actions back then.

When the memory file played and Ratchet watched the experience Triage had had back then, he had felt more and more appalled.

Triage had not held anything back; he had showed them everything, from the shot that took out the black and purple seeker to the moment where the decepticons left the sedated blue seeker and the black and purple seeker who still had been in stasis.

Following the interrogation and the experience through the hardline with the defecting medic, Ratchet had had a deep conversation with Triage afterwards to gauge the medic’s feelings during the encounter back then. That was one thing the hardline wasn’t able to show and he needed to know if he could trust Triage after watching the horrors done to the innocent beings that had been in his care.

Triage had been rather withdrawn when he gave them the knowledge he held and had described the seekers with a strange clinical tone. That had told the experienced CMO that there was more he needed to know than the memory file had showed.

Ratchet had been greatly affected by the torture the black and purple seeker had been put through, something Triage had confessed that he had made possible without really intending to. For any medic the sight of a being, no matter their origin, or being sentient or not, put through torture would cause the medical code to go haywire. Ratchets own had screamed at him to do something, even when he knew that it was only a memory he was watching and not something happening now. How Triage had managed to handle it back then, to not be able to do anything to stop the torture and just watch as the being lastly entered stasis due to the damages done… He had shuddered, feeling a chill run down his backstruts at the thought. 

When he during their conversation learned of the existence of a newspark in the black and purple seeker and why Megatron especially had wanted the device tested the CMO had been horrified. After Triage had told him that the newspark had terminated at the test, Ratchet had been filled with a deep hatred towards the former Lord High Protector.

One thing was forcing them into a war; another was to deliberately seek to kill a newspark, a new life not even given the chance to live before terminating it.

Then Triage, aware of his anger, told him of the continuous terminations, again going into the knowledge of the seekers and their reproduction which occurred every few stellar cycles. Counting the vorns of war Ratchet had almost exploded at the number of newsparks he came up with which had been terminated. Now he also understood why the black and purple seeker always was present during their battles.

When Triage had explained the reproduction and how the seekers treated their carriers, protecting them and keeping them at their camps, during the interrogation he had wondered why the black and purple seeker always had been at the battles with the large blue seeker, if carrying left it unable to fly at some point or if the seekers really were that protective of their carriers and newsparks.

Now he understood and he felt sick at the way Megatron treated new life so carelessly.

Then their conversation had turned towards Starscream. Triage was deeply intrigued by the seeker and its presence among the autobots.

He had been especially interested in how they had managed to turn him so civilized.

To that Ratchet had laughed.

Civilized was a huge word used on his adopted creation.

Yes Starscream was more like an autobot than a seeker at the moment, but still his basic coding ruled him. 

He might seem tame and civilized to those who didn’t know him deeply enough, but Ratchet had seen enough through the vorns to not be fooled. He was always prepared for when Starscream, controlled by his coding would do something that could get someone hurt.

Starscream had first turned this civilized a few hundred vorns ago when they managed to invent the special comm. line that he now used to communicate with. It had made a huge difference when the seeker was able to actually interact with his surroundings. Ratchet also knew that the way he and Hound had raised Starscream had had a large impact on the seeker too. He might be ruled by his coding, but generally Starscream knew the basic rules of their society and acted by them completely, unless his coding demanded otherwise.

But Ratchet understood Triage’s reasoning when the former decepticon only had dealt with the wild seekers. What a shock it must have been to the other medic to see a seeker run freely inside the autobot headquarters. Compared to the wild seekers, Starscream WAS an autobot, even if his coding said seeker. 

With his knowledge of why Triage had acted that strange when he was confronted with the seeker, Ratchet had afterwards tried to defuse Starscreams aggression towards the former decepticon, however only with little effect.

-Past-  
It had turned out to be a nightmare for the CMO and the science team to come up with a solution that would work with the seekers frame.

Their first attempt to give Starscream the ability to communicate with his surroundings had malfunctioned in a way none of them had expected. Wheeljack had suggested an easy solution: they could just implant a vocalizer fit for a grounder model into the seeker. It was easy to do and didn’t require Ratchet to mess with the insides of Starscreams helm, reducing the risks for the seeker. Ratchet had agreed to the attempt and had wasted no time in implanting the grounder vocalizer instead of the seekers own.

For some lunar cycles it worked perfectly, Starscream was able to communicate with his surroundings for the first time and the seeker had been filled with so much joy that bleed through their bond.

Then one orn Ratchet sensed deep despair coming through the bond and not many breems later Starscream came bursting into the medbay, optics filled with energon tears.

Asking the seeker what was wrong, Starscream had talked – or tried to. Instead of any words only the lyrical tones of a seeker vocalizer was emitted. When he had examined the vocalizer he had found it identical with the one he had replaced with the grounder vocalizer.

The seekers self-repair had thought the foreign vocalizer malfunctioning and had repaired it, making it into on fit for a seeker.

While he comforted Starscream, Ratchet had felt quite offended that the self-repair dared to mess with his work. Never before had he experienced such a thing.

Lesson learned, the next attempt didn’t involve any implants into the seeker.

Instead they had come up with the special comm. line.

They still needed to connection it with the seeker’s communication hub, but the design wouldn’t be as invasive as the implanted vocalizer had been.

It was an easy and simple design to work with that looked a lot like the comm. lines the autobots were equipped with. The only physical difference was that where the autobots’ comm. lines were integrated into their frames completely, Starscreams would be connected to the seekers helm behind his audio receptors.

The largest difference would be in the software running the comm. line. Uploading the software required to run with the comm. line into the seeker’s processor, a new frame on the seekers HUD would become visible when the seeker was communicating with his surroundings. It would work through text to speech, where the new software would allow the seeker to form sentences on the screen in his HUD and the comm. line, the hardware, would voice out the sentences to the surroundings.

Receiving the delicate device when the science team was done testing it, Ratchet had made his own tests of it before he had been satisfied and had talked to Starscream about the new attempt.

It should have been fairly easy to connect the comm. line to the communications hub and Ratchet hadn’t expected the challenge that showed the instant he had gained access to the inside of Starscreams helm.

Seeker processors was a medical field that didn’t exist so what had greeted Ratchet’s optics when he glanced inside Starscream came as a surprise. His own experience only ranged to the time where Starscream had been at an age of four vorns and he had needed to disable the seekerlets access to the weapons systems.

At that time Starscream had only had one processing hub covered in a decent amount of wires.

Now he had five with one more under construction if Ratchet guessed right. He had seen the forming of a sixth socket beside the other five when he had poked a bit at the wires circling the processing hubs.

It suddenly made the feat of finding the exact connection a lot harder for the medic, and he needed to work around the other hubs, when he had located the right hub, to get to the deeper connections.

What should have been a one cycle operation turned into a four cycles long hunt for the right connection. 

During that time, prodding and poking, Ratchet had wondered about the seeker’s need for so many hubs and wires. The wires were a tangled net connecting each hub with the others in a labyrinth of lines.

Why did the seeker require so much processing power?

What were their purposes?

The questions had turned the tedious work into a hunt for answers and while he still had searched for the right connection, he had observed what different pokes to some of the hubs resulted in physically, to get some answers.

He had been surprised to realize that a whole processing hub was dedicated to the wings only. With that knowledge he had kept his tools from that hub afterwards, narrowing his search to the remaining four.

Later when he thought about his findings they actually began to make sense. The wings were a large part of the seekers frame and from experience with Starscream was littered with delicate sensors. That they would need a hub of their very own to analyze and process the data coming from the large sensory net covering the wings was understandable.

Still he didn’t know much about the purpose the rest of the hubs held. At least he managed to find the hub that held the communications and was able to locate the needed connection to integrate the comm. line to the seekers internal communications and allow for the external communication transmitted by the new software to the outer hardware.

Unable to deny his medical interest in the insides of the seekers helm, Ratchet took an image capture of the look of the insides for later study, before he soldered the part of the helm he had had to cut away to gain access to the inside of Starscreams helm, sealing the entrance into the delicate circuitry safely shut.

After stopping the flow of sedation to the seeker, he had waited in anticipation for when his creation would rouse from his recharge and hopefully voice his first words with the new comm. line.

When Starscream had woken Ratchet had almost felt tears filling his optics when the seeker called for him as the very first thing. Hearing his own name voiced with so much needy affection while the seeker, disoriented booted the rest of his systems completely, had melted something inside him which few managed to touch.

He had tasked Blaster and Jazz with inventing a personal artificial voice for the seeker. He simply denied using the monotone voice that everyone knew from the planet wide emergency line, it would just drive them and the seeker crazy to hear.

And hearing the result of the work done by the two sound loving mechs Ratchet was proud of their work. 

Inventing an artificial voice was no easy work.

However the only sign in the tone of voice coming from the seeker, that the voice actually wasn’t Starscreams own was the slight grating the raspy screechy sound had to it, but still Ratchet felt that it truly fit the seeker. It was definitely a voice he would love listening to, knowing how much it meant to his creation, and the raspy screech as well as the grating was something that you could get used to, it wasn’t that bad.  
-Present-

With a sigh Ratchet lets his digits trail the now soldered wounds on the wings, feeling the edges and trying the patch he had added to them to see if it would hold. The seekers frame had to do the rest, either growing the new plating beneath the patch and when the damage was healed completely, push the patch from the frame or integrate the patch into the frame and add it to the healing. He had become a lot more skilled in what the seeker frame was capable of doing and had to accept its difference from the usual frames of the autobots.

“You’re done. Relax it for an orn before you go flying again.” He told the seeker.

“Thank you, Ratchet.” Starscream said, smiling.

Jumping down from the berth looking to see Sideswipe already waiting by the door and Sunstreaker moving from his berth as well, Starscream turned to his creator.

He felt spontaneous and reached for the CMO and cradled him in a tight embrace, bowing his head and nuzzling his chin at the medic’s neck in affection.

Pouring the deep affection he wasn’t able to voice through his bond with the medic, Ratchet slowly melded into the embrace.

“It is okay. I know Starscream.” Ratchet whispered to the seeker.

He wouldn’t admit it to anyone but he really savored the times like this with Starscream. It was so rare for him to show this kind of affection being the CMO and having to keep it all under control even when it couldn’t be worse.

Releasing the medic, Starscream turned and with a flick to one of his wings as he walked to join his friends he was out of the medbay. Ratchet knew that the three would do whatever came into mind and probably end up damaged again soon, and he would enjoy repairing them even while complaining about their damages.

The twins, even with their bad influence on Starscream had been the best that could have happened for his little seeker.


	22. Chapter 22

A few vorns later:

Secret location on Cybertron:

Walking from the new base they had moved to a vorn ago, Starscream looked at the surroundings. A few hundred meters to his left was the hidden construction site. Down below the seemingly destroyed surface was the large room, housing the work of the last four vorns. The spaceship they had begun the work on when they realized that if they didn’t find any new source of energon within the next ten vorns they would starve to death.

A vorn ago they then got the message from the crew constructing the spaceship; the shell was finally done; only the inner workings remained. At the message they had abandoned the headquarters in Iacon to strengthen the defense around the spaceship and had moved to the temporary base located there. They always feared that Megatron would gain knowledge of their plans, and that they had managed to get this far without discovery was a miracle in itself.

At the moment the spaceship was completely visible to anyone, they didn’t need the secrecy anymore.

Looking at the destruction done to the area surrounding the spaceship, Starscream let out a sigh.

Now the work was complete, only tuning and delicate adjusting needed to be done before they were able to depart from Cybertron. And of course this would be the moment where Megatron finally learned about their secret location and decided to attack them.

Entering the command center of the space ship, Starscream watched as the science team worked fluidly to tweak and adjust the last parts – the space ships artificial main computer, Teletran 1.

Wheeljack was on his back, his helm under some consoles while Perceptor worked with the software, typing commands and voicing out requests to the artificial intelligence they had installed in the computer. It wasn’t sentient like any of the autobots, but intelligent enough to understand requests.

When the decepticons and the seekers had arrived at the site, determined to destroy and kill them all, it all had looked futile. But what Megatron hadn’t expected was that the combined work of Ratchet and Triage during the last few vorns had contributed with a new weapon to the spaceship and following the suggestions from the medics, Wheeljack had managed to invent an efficient way to kill the seekers.

For once the autobots had turned victorious and the spaceship had hardly taken any damage, while the decepticons and the seekers had been forced to retreat with great losses.

Seeing the seekers for the first time hadn’t been a shock for Starscream. He had learned of their presence few vorns previously, when the twins was allowed on the battlefield. But it was the first time he had seen them with his own optics. 

When Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had told him about the flying transformers he had stood open mouthed while they carried on explaining. Later confronting Ratchet with what his friends had told him, the CMO had confessed his true heritage.

It had come as a shock back then to learn that he really didn’t belong among what he considered friends and family, that his family wasn’t his real family. The missing puzzle pieces finally completed the mystery of why he was so different. Ratchet had apologized for keeping the secret and Starscream had smelled the great fear coming from his – he hadn’t even known what to call the medic then.

When asked why, Ratchet had begun the tale of how he came to be in their care, by starting with Hound contacting him and asking him for his expertise.

Learning that his carrier was dead had filled him with pain and a slight anger at the one killing the seeker.

Then he realized the magnitude of what was going on around him that he didn’t know of. They were killing his people, maybe even had killed his other creator.

At the realization he had entered a panic attack and had tried to flee the headquarters.

He had needed time, time to understand it all. But Ratchet had not wanted to let him go, and in hindsight Starscream was grateful for what Ratchet did, even if he hadn’t been at the time.

Seeing the seekers for the very first time, he was even more grateful for Ratchets inability to let him go. 

What he had seen the seekers do had disgusted him. It wasn’t what he had imagined they would be like. The feelings he had thought would rise when seeing them hadn’t surfaced either. He felt no kinship with the fliers.

Letting out another sigh, he turned and went to the part of the spaceship that was Ratchets - the small medbay.

The CMO needed to prepare him for the journey.

Since they didn’t know how long time they would be traveling through space before any energon signals was detected, special treatment was needed for him to stay sane and not enter a maddening rampart due to the inability to fly.

Entering the medbay he watched as Ratchet and Firstaid laid the last servos on their domain, filling cabinets and shelves with supplies.

“I’m here as you wished, Ratchet.” He said, coming up behind the CMO and gently caressed a claw at the shoulder.

Turning at the touch, Ratchet favored Starscream with one of the smiles only the seeker ever saw. Then his expression turned serious and he gestured for Starscream to follow him into one of the smaller rooms connected to the medbay.

Entering the space reserved for critical patients Starscream looked around curious.

So this was where he was going to spend their journey?

The CMO went to the far wall in the little room, where a strange berth with a lid had been placed.

“This is a stasis pod.” Ratchet explained, opening the lid and allowing Starscream to get a look of the insides.

Touching the strange lining of the pod, he felt it budge at his touch.

“Memory gel. It encases you while you are in stasis, protecting you in case the travel gets rough.” Ratchet answered his unvoiced question.

“And fuel?” he asked.

“It won’t be needed as long as you are inside it. Your systems will work on energy provided by the engine of the spaceship. Teletran monitors you and provides you with all you need. It is the best we can do for you, besides leaving you on Cybertron.” The CMO let him know.

“I don’t like it, but I won’t be left behind while you travel to who knows where!” Starscream told the medic, his optics glinting with determination.

“When will we be leaving?” he then asked.

“At any moment now. Whenever Wheeljack and Perceptor say we are good to go.” Ratchet replied, closing the lid of the pod again and gesturing for the seeker to follow him out of the room again.

With one last glance at what would be his “home” during their travel, Starscream turned at left with the CMO.

Entering the command center a cycle later, having packed his few personal items from his temporary quarters, Starscream now only saw Perceptor present there. The scientist was still working with the main computer, solving the last issues. The troops was boarding the spaceship, finding their small quarters and preparing for take-off. 

Behind him, the seeker sensed someone entering, and when he turned he was greeted by the Prime.

“Are you ready Starscream?” Optimus asked, a bit concern showing in his voice.

“Yes.” The seeker nodded. “Ratchet has shown me where I will be staying. Can’t say I like it, but there is no way I am staying behind.”

Optimus just smiled at that statement. It was clear that Ratchet’s stubbornness had influenced the seeker and Starscream now and then could be just as stubborn as the CMO. Not that he would have denied any of them when they had demanded that the seeker was to join them, no matter the complications.

“We might be lucky to get some useful signals when we pass some of the planets closest to Cybertron, and if we do I promise that the instant we get one you are released from the pod.” Optimus reassured the seeker.

Some of the tension that had been clear in the seekers wings bled out and they slowly lowered to their default setting, low on the back.

“Thank you, Optimus.” the seeker replied.

With a smile Optimus nodded and went to talk with Perceptor.

Glancing around at the numerous monitors and consoles placed in the spacy command center, Starscream went to study some of them. He listened silently to what Optimus discussed with the scientist and understood from their conversation that they would be able to depart within a cycle. The main computer had to reboot and they had to run a last check before they could take-off.

Receiving a comm. call on the adapted comm. line, the CMO asked for him to come, as the Prime just had informed the troops of the schedule. It would be easier on the seeker if he already was in stasis before the take-off.

Entering the medbay a breem later he was greeted by not only the CMO but also Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The twins were smiling at him and pounced at him when the door slid closed behind him. 

Following Ratchet into the room housing the stasis pod, he felt a slight uneasy. The claustrophobia stirred at the thought of being enclosed in the pod with no place to move. It didn’t help that he knew he wouldn’t need the room to move, being in stasis. 

Before he could take a step back as the feeling grew, he felt twin set of servos on his wings, gently massaging the tense plating.

“Gonna be okay, Scream.” Sideswipe encouraged.

“You are going to be out again before you know it.” Sunstreaker said, unusual softly.

Taking in a deep breath he walked to stand beside Ratchet, who had remained calm beside the pod.

As he sat on the berth part of the pod, he felt the gel move around his rear and the feeling made him slightly nauseous. He really hoped it would get better when he was completely inside it.

Moving to get his wings to fit in the extra room made around where his shoulders would be, he lowered his back and felt the gel move around his whole frame, encasing it completely. Surprisingly it now felt soothing, the gel warm around his frame. Twitching his wings a bit he felt how they didn’t feel restrained at all even when the gel clung to them.

Looking up at Ratchet, he saw the reassuring blue optics and he let out a sigh of relief.

Then Ratchet withdrew a mouthpiece from the upper part of the pod.

“You need to have this inside your mouth. It will let Teletran cool your frame in case you overheat. It just blows cool air into you, just like breathing. The gel is able to transport the heat away from the surface of your frame, but you still need the air to efficiently cool your insides.” Ratchet explained.

Nodding Starscream fitted the mouthpiece into his mouth and it went easily around his fangs.

“When I close the lid, your systems will begin to slowly cycle down. Don’t panic, just relax and let yourself go. I will be here the first cycle to monitor you, just in case the pod is going to malfunction. Are you ready?” Ratchet asked.

Unable to speak with the thing in his mouth, Starscream just nodded and his optics wander from Ratchet to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

“We’ll be here when you wake up.” Sideswipe reassured.

Returning his optics to the medic, he watches as Ratchet reach for and begins to lower the lid. Darkness slowly consumes his sight and he tries to follow Ratchets suggestion, to relax, even as his claustrophobia screams in his mind.

Then he feels the air begin to blow into his mouth, and his systems slowly begins to cycle down, making him more and more drowsy.

Soon he is safely in stasis.

As the lid closes, Ratchet watch as the monitor on the lid activates and shows the state of the seeker inside it. Heat, spark pulse, air flow and the temperature of the memory gel is all showed there as well as the energy sustaining the seeker as he in the pod. Everything is working correctly and with a sigh Ratchet comm.’s the Prime to let him know that Starscream is ready.

Then he sits down in a chair beside the pod, preparing for their take-off.

The twins, more eager to watch their launch from the command center and leaves the medic and the seeker alone.

Over the internal comm in the ship everyone is informed to prepare for imminent take-off. As the message finish, the spaceship’s large engines are heard as they slowly begin to power up.

At their peak, the ship begins to tremble with the power and the internal comm. line activates again with the countdown.

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 –“ Teletran 1’s artificial voice slowly does the countdown. As the countdown reaches 1, the ship trembles even more and Ratchet has to grip the arm rests of the chair to remain steady. 

Then he feels the pull as the ship lifts from the ground.

Free of the surrounding buildings, the power shifts from the launch engines placed vertical on the ship to the main propulsion engine, and the ship slowly gains speed as it moves away from the construction site.

As they gain altitude the speed increases to reach the needed force for them to leave the gravity of the planet.

Reaching the stratosphere the space ship’s take-off is detected by the decepticons.

Megatron watches in anger the space ship gaining more and more altitude before it finally leaves the gravity of the planet and enters space.

“Soundwave, prepare the Nemesis.” He growls.

The warlord had had plans of his own to send groups to scout for energon, having realized, just like the autobots that they needed to find sources of energon if they were going to survive.

“As you wish, Megatron.” The mech droned and began to voice out orders. Soon the base was in movement, every decepticon working to get the Nemesis launched to follow the autobots.

Half a cycle later the Nemesis was primed, ready for take-off.

Boarding the space ship, Megatron placed himself on the throne in the command center, looking at the decepticons positioned at the monitors.

Soundwave moved to stand beside the throne, waiting for Megatron to give the final signal.

The Nemesis was built differently than the spaceship the autobots had constructed.

Megatron had more energon at his disposal and that showed in the design of the ship. At its launch large boosters would be ignited to support the main engine, burning up a large amount of energon just to reach velocity faster. That also meant that even if the autobots had close to a cycle’s head start, the Nemesis would be able to catch up with their slower spaceship.

As the pre-launch test came back green, Megatron glanced to Soundwave and with a nod, ordered:

“Launch.”

There was no countdown at this launch, instead the decepticons had to fend for themselves as the boosters ignited and shook the spaceship violently. The sound soon became deafening as the main engine joined. 

Then with a fluid motion the spaceship launched vertical into the sky, rapidly increasing altitude and shot out into space, pursuing the autobot spaceship.

Soundwave, begin tracing them.” Megatron ordered as the main engine took over the propulsion completely from the boosters.

“Yes Sir.” Soundwave acknowledged. Placing himself at the communications monitor, he began to scan their surroundings for any trace of which direction the autobots had went.

Soon he found what he was looking for. Even with the time it had taken them to get into space, the trail left by the other spaceship was lit up. The chemical wastes from the engine showed clearly, it would need more time for those to dissipate and erase the track.

Reporting his success to Megatron, the decepticon leader ordered him to lock onto their path. In time they would catch up with them and then he would crush the Prime for good.

Meanwhile the autobots had reached one of the closest planets and had slowed down their speed. 

Activating the energon detectors they began to scan the planet for any traces of energon. They needed to stay there for the planets whole rotation to get a complete result, luckily Alpha C as the planet was called rotated quite fast. On an orn the planet would have rotated on its axis three times, having a complete rotation cycle of ten cycles.

Floating by the planet meant that the decepticons would catch up with them long before their first scan was complete.

It was Hound who detected the incoming spaceship, monitoring the radar. It was just a blip on the monitor, and at first the tracker though it was an asteroid moving into range of their radar. But then he registered an increase in its speed and alerted, he hollered the others to the unidentified signal.

Still scanning the planet, it was first when the spaceship was close enough that they received the unmistakable decepticon signature that they abandoned their task and powered their engine up again, trying to lose the pursuers.

It was a futile attempt.

Entering their highest velocity, the decepticons hung onto their trail, following them mercilessly.

In a last attempt to lose the decepticons, Wheeljack decided to power up their warp drive. It hadn’t been tested before and actually wasn’t to be used.

As the drive slowly began to power up, the decepticons finally pulled up beside them and prepared to dock the autobot spaceship.

Preparing for the inevitable battle with their enemies, Optimus ordered everyone to be ready when the decepticons breached their hull.

In the medbay, Ratchet was alarmed by the klaxons suddenly activating. Deeming it safe to leave the seeker in his state, he left to see what was going on.

Meeting him as he went for the command center were armed frontliners and he felt fear creeping into his spark. Battle in space was dangerous.

Breems later the hull was breached and decepticons poured into the autobot spaceship, weapons charged and ready.

Ready to meet them, the autobots attacked.

While the battle became heated, the warp drive slowly finished the last part of the powering of the device, unnoticed by autobots and decepticons.

Megatron had pushed Optimus into the command center and the two leaders traded punches as well as weapons fire. Moving around the delicate hardware Megatron fired carelessly, while Optimus had to avoid dealing damage to their surroundings.

Then one push from the decepticon leader forced Optimus onto the steering and the spaceship shook and trembled as the speed suddenly increased and the ship soon spun out of control. Megatron, only focused on killing the Prime applied more force to the autobot leader, increasing the push to the steering even more and increased the speed even more.

Wrestling free from the decepticon leader, Optimus tried to gain control of the ship as Megatron at a sharp turn of the ship tumbled to the side, hitting the console housing the warp drive. The hit jumbled the slow powering of the drive and prompted it to activate before the energy was ready. With a white flash the console overheated and began to burn while the warp drive initiated its jump.

A multicolored flash surrounded the two connected spaceships and when it faded, they were gone, lost among stars and galaxies.

o o o

At the same time as the Autobots’ take-off in a forest on Cybertron:

Skywarp flew beside Thundercracker as the seekers returned to their forest. The last battle had been a complete disaster. It showed in the many grey frames they carried with them from the battlefield, and that was only the dead. The dying could be heard in their sufferings, carried by creators or trinemates.

The worst part was that Thundercracker was carrying one of the dying.

Glancing to see the blue and grey seeker in the Winglords servos, he couldn’t stop the urge to look behind him to see ‘Swiftstrike’ and the carrier flying close to each other almost hugging in their altmodes. Skywarp was flying in his bipedal to support Thundercracker if his mate needed any help in carrying the dying.

Kliks later a ragged breath left the blue and grey seeker followed by a violent jerk and then the grey began to expand, slowly covering the wings and move towards the center of the blue and lighter grey coloration. Thundercracker stopped in his flight and let out a pained keen as the spark dislodged from his as the grey finally covered the seeker he held completely.

Behind them a chilling wail sounded and before Skywarp knew it he had teleported to support the carrier as the trinebond snapped. ‘Swiftstrike’ was no better, but the dominant kept himself in the air.

As the Winglord recovered from the loss he began their travel back to the camp once again, securely cradling the greyed frame of his creators’ third. Now the only thing he could do for the seeker was to send him off properly to The Sky Above, just like they would do with the rest of their dead and those who yet had to die, when their sparks finally stopped pulsing.

It was a ritual which had become uncomfortable well-known.

Looking back Thundercracker watched his mate steady his carrier in the seeker’s flight.

With a sigh he increased their speed to the slow movement that allowed the injured and those carrying others to keep up with the large group.

It would be an orn of sorrow.

When they a few cycles later landed in the middle of the camp of the Swiftstrike clan Thundercracker had had to take several breaks to recover as the dying slowly faded and their sparks stopped their pulsing. It was a deep spark wrenching pain every time to feel the sparks of his people leaving his own. Only in battle when the bloodlust and berserker rage filled him did the deaths not affect him. Now when the battle had faded from his systems, the pain came through clearly and wreaked havoc in his spark.

Gently lowering the greyed frame in his servos to the ground, Thundercracker knelt down beside the dead, waiting for his creators to join him. Around him his people mirrored him, lowering the dead to the ground with great care. The dying was cradled securely by their trinemates and/or creators.

Then as silence fell over the camp, he began his song.

He sang about their people, the very first of their kin.

He sang about their love for the sky, no one rivaling them in their element.

He sang about their home in the forest, the flourish of prey.

He sang about their final dispute with the grounders and the divide following it.

He sang about the fierceness of battle, the injured, dead or dying.

And then he sang, praising The Sky Above, their God, and their home when He finally called for them.

And while Thundercracker sang, the others joined in, following the ancient ritual of singing their dead home to The Sky Above.

It was a peaceful song lulling the dying into a strange calmness, knowing that life wasn’t ending, just a new chapter beginning.

Allowing themselves to fade away, the frames of the dying slowly greyed out while the sound of the living carried them on their way to The Sky Above.

As the song stilled, the atmosphere which had been thick with sorrow, slowly filled with the peace from the song. It would take time to heal the grief filling the sparks of those who had lost, but the song was mending, telling them that they would meet again, when their own time to join came.

Then another ritual began.

Looking at ‘Swiftstrike’, Thundercracker nodded.

Then the clan leader lifted a greyed servo to his lips and began to slowly chew. Following, the carrier and Thundercracker did the same.

While they slowly devoured parts of the dead they let their minds fill with thoughts of the life they had had with the now dead, honoring his sacrifice and thanking him for giving them resources to carry on.

It might seem bestial, but the resources gained from the dead could be what saved the still living from following too early. The seekers valued resources, being those critters, grounders or their own; to let anything go to waste was not something that they did.

Skywarp sat a bit away from them, watching. He had no connection to the dead and therefore only participated in the song and not the following ritual to preserve resources and honor the dead.

Looking at the Winglord, Skywarp was quite relaxed. For once Thundercracker seemed like himself more than he had done for a very long time. It seemed that the fatal injury to the blue and grey third in his creation trine had dragged him from the insanity that more often than not ruled the Winglord.

Over time the insanity had become more and more clear to everyone around the Winglord, and especially Skywarp had experienced the change happening in his mate.

Hoping that the state of mind in Thundercracker would linger just for a while, he let out a sigh, flexing his wings and laid back, looking up at the sky.

Lately Thundercracker had become more unstable in his insanity, something that deeply concerned the clan leaders. Neglecting his duties towards his people, no Gatherings had been held the last many vorns, and it was visible in the malfunctioning seekerlings from the pure submissive based trines.

It was like the welfare of his people didn’t matter anymore, his own goals taking precedence.

Following the neglecting of the gathering came the neglecting of the check on their prey. It still held importance to keep track on their prey even if they mostly fed of the grounders now and not the small animals living with them in the forest.

As their hunt on the grounders went on, less and less grounders would exist and they would need to return to feed on their more natural prey when the grounders either became extinct or so scarce that the amount couldn’t sustain the growing population of seekers.

But it seemed all Thundercracker cared for was the battles with the grounders. Battles which as time went on turned more and more pointless.

Why the Winglord continued ordering them out into battle when their losses became larger and larger and the purpose less obvious no one knew, and it troubled the wisest of the clan leaders.

But if they voiced their concern they were met with hostility from the Winglord, and not a few challenges had been issued from the Winglord against the clan leaders if they didn’t silence their concerns.

The wise Winglord Thundercracker had been had turned into a tyrant, where disputes was solved with challenges to the death.

The ire growing among the clan leaders, true challenges on the position of Winglord had been issued by the most worthy among their people in the hope of a change.

But they had been disappointed every time.

Every promising candidate to kill the Winglord and be found worthy of becoming the new Winglord had been found unworthy, and where Thundercracker might have spared the seekers earlier he now promptly killed them without any mercy, ignoring that he killed some of his most skilled warriors.

It seemed that his insanity empowered his abilities beyond their usual strength and no one was able to compete with the Winglord.

Only Skywarp came out of fights with the Winglord alive, but then again barely.

With each fight the two seekers had, the concern for the wellbeing for the consort to the Winglord grew. 

Seeing the amount of damage Thundercracker did to his mate worried them and they feared that one orn Skywarp would die from the damages, taking the Winglord with him. Of course it would solve their problem with getting rid of Thundercracker, and some had voiced the possibility to just let the damages Skywarp suffered run their course and let the seeker pass to The Sky Above.

The only thing in the way of their hopes and plans was the fact that Thundercracker had assigned Silvershade and Crossfire to guard Skywarp all those many vorns back and the two dominants still did. Not against Thundercracker however, they weren’t suicidal and if they got killed they couldn’t help the black and purple seeker.

No, Silvershade did his duty to the Winglord by healing Skywarp from the damages done.

His trinemates had the last 500 vorns carried healing abilities when their special abilities suddenly came into power one orn. With the new abilities came new designations and while the now light pink and black and blue and red seekers learned of their new abilities they took the new designations Salvacia and Allevaria.

Salvacia held powers of salvation and was able to redeem and renew while Allevaria was able to heal injuries and ease pain.

If one was to think about their new abilities, it was like The Sky Above had known of their need and had granted them the abilities to keep Skywarp alive in his trials. They had attempted to use their abilities on Thundercracker, hoping to cure his insanity, but no change came in the Winglord, to the great sadness of Salvacia.

As Skywarp listened to the murmurings among the others he slowly went into a deep recharge, not aware of his surroundings or when the others began to leave the center of the camp to go to their resting areas.

When he woke and looked blearily around he found himself alone.

No not completely alone he a klik later realized.

To his left he could see Thundercracker resting against a tree looking thoughtful at him.

Seeing the look in the optics his instincts screamed at him to get away from the Winglord.

Unconsciously his wings drooped on his back, not out of submission, but sadness and a slight fear.

‘So much for hoping for an orns reprieve from the insanity that had taken up his mate’ the black and purple seeker thought.

Rising from the ground, wanting to be on his thrusters in case Thundercracker was going to do something, anything, Skywarp forced the fear back and moved.

Mirroring him the Winglord did the same.

It was clear that their ‘dance’ already had begun and Skywarp let out a sigh.

/You know my feelings on the topic Thundercracker. And it is gone. What purpose does this have without my heat?/ the black and purple seeker began, telling his mate the same words as every orn when Thundercracker demanded that they mated in hope of creations.

It was the returning topic between them, and the reason that Skywarp fought his mate. He didn’t want to enter heat if it ever returned. The black and purple seeker wasn’t saner than the Winglord, but his insanity affected him different.

Skywarp was haunted.

Haunted by voices.

And not just any voices, but the voices of all his terminated creations.

They stayed with him all the time, talking in his mind. They showed in his recharge, creating dreamscapes where he could see them all standing together. He had seen their colors, their optics and knew of the names they would have had IF they had been alive.

It filled him with great grief to see the prospect of his and Thundercrackers affectionate mating from when they both were saner. And it pained him to be reminded of the feelings they had shared, the healthy bond they had had where they had been able to communicate. All that had been lost mostly because of Thundercrackers insanity, cruelness and madness.

In his madness Thundercracker had no other thought but to mate and create. He didn’t care if Skywarp didn’t enter heats anymore and wasn’t fertile or if the submissive even wanted to interface with him, all that mattered was newsparks. It was like the dominant had gotten into his mind that ‘facing with the submissive would cause the heat to return.

And Skywarp tried, he really did, to please his mate, to avoid the fights, but he wouldn’t allow Thundercracker to try and spark him without a fight. Sometimes the Winglord just fought him and damaged him heavily and then just gave up on the mating, other times it would turn a lot more violent between the two.

His defiance and determination bleed through the bond to Thundercracker and the dominant let out a vicious growl in response.

Narrowing his optics, Skywarp bend slightly in his knees, prepared for the moment Thundercracker pounced on him. He would rather die than have to go through the loss of another newspark.

Taking a step closer to Skywarp, Thundercracker flared his wings and bared his fangs in a hiss. His claws flexed by his sides as he narrowed his optics on the black and purple seeker.

/You will do as I order you, submissive!/ the Winglord growled, the rising rage transmitting clearly to Skywarp through their bond.

Not the least intimidated by the stance of the Winglord – after all they had done this so many times now that he simply didn’t care if he lived of died; Skywarp flared his own wings in a blatant challenge to the dominant.

/I won’t submit! You will have to make me!/ He growled back, showing his own fangs.

An enraged roar left Thundercracker before he charged the black and purple seeker.

Using his agility Skywarp avoided the attack and distanced himself more from the Winglord, to give himself more room to move. He had no hope of coming out of the fight victorious; he could only hope that Thundercracker in his anger forgot everything about mating.

Growling as his anger rose, Thundercracker attacked again and again, pressing Skywarp to use up more and more energy to keep up the pace with the Winglord and avoid the attacks using his higher agility and speed. But while Skywarp was able to avoid the attacks, Thundercracker held more stamina and could carry on for a longer period of time.

It was inevitable that Skywarp at a point would falter and get into reach of the Winglord.

When it finally happened, Skywarp felt the claws dig into his side and he let out a pained cry.

The stagger in his movements as the pain registered in his frame allowed Thundercracker to get a grip on his wings and flip him around, straining the hinges on the back.

With a pained yelp at the damage to his wing, Skywarp slammed into a tree close by when the Winglord forced him around and for a moment everything whitened from the agony searing his wings at the impact.

Stumbling, fighting to keep his footing he tried to gain his focus again.

Then he felt the burning hot larger frame press him onto the tree. The movements grinded his wings into the tree and the wings already throbbing with pain send even more warnings to his HUD.

/Submit./ he heard Thundercracker growl into his audio.

/No!/ he said, wincing at the whine in his voice.

/Submit./ Thundercracker said again, pressing further into his frame.

/NO!/ He told again, this time with a more firmer tone in his voice.

/SUBMIT!/ Thundercracker roared for the third time.

Skywarp knew this was his last chance to avoid being heavily damaged. Not that the interfacing wouldn’t damage him too. Thundercracker had even changed in his behavior there, deliberately aiming to hurt and wound him in what should be pleasurable act between them.

He steeled himself before he told his final answer.

/NEVER!/ He roared back rising his wings again in challenge.

Thundercrackers optics narrowed to thin slits, his engine letting out a dangerous rumble.

The next moment Skywarp felt his neck being restrained and his helm forced towards Thundercrackers.

/Very well. Then I will just take what I want. What is my right!/ the Winglord warned, his lips almost touching Skywarps as he spoke.

Coughing Skywarp just turned his helm to the side in defiance, not baring more of his neck.

Feeling the pressure growing on his neck cables Skywarp ignored the urge to claw at the offending servo around his neck. He wouldn’t show weakness even if his systems loudly complained about the rising temperature.

Then abruptly the servo moved away allowing him a brief moment of relief before he was turned around with force and pressed front first against the tree.

Even if he knew what was coming he couldn’t stop the gasp when his wings was molested. It wasn’t the careful touches Thundercracker used to apply to his precious wings, but a harsh mocking attempt to give pleasure. Nevertheless he couldn’t stop his frame from reacting to the stimulation, unwanted and painful as it was.

Not intending to let it be this easy for the dominant, Skywarp fought against the clawed servo Thundercracker had placed between his wings to keep him in place while the dominant stimulated him. With his own servos he pushed against the tree, using its leverage to push the dominant back and away from his frame.

With gritted dentas he managed to turn around to face Thundercracker.

/I despise you! Your touch is like poison! I would rather DIE than have you molest me again!/ He spat into the faceplate of the Winglord. He needed to defuse the others lust to anger to avoid the interface.

He felt the rage grow a notch in his mate and felt a sick relief at the sensation through their bond. It might have been enough.

His helm sang as a hard blow hit him as the result of his mouthing off. When his focus returned he became aware of Thundercracker fondling with the cover to his valve. At the realization he felt a sharp pang in his spark, it hadn’t been enough.

During their fights and the resulting forced mating, the Winglord had become skilled in retracting the submissives valve cover whenever Skywarp refused to open to him and allow him entrance.

Now he was trying to get one of his claws into that special spot where it could fit and push the cover aside.

Skywarp felt it when it succeeded, the sharp sting when the claw dug into his armor between the cover and his frame, which was as delicate as his valve and just as sensitive.

He wasn’t able to silence the whimper that left his vocalizer at the feeling of the claw scratching the delicate armor, and a pleased rumbling sounded from Thundercracker when he heard it. Pushing the cover to the side he revealed his mate’s valve and his fans began to whirr to life.

Caught, restrained and vulnerable in the presence of his insane mate Skywarp just gave up fighting, still he didn’t give in. Steeling himself for what was to come he hoped it wouldn’t hurt as much as the last times.

A click sounded and a groan escaped the Winglord as his spike pressurized. When it was fully erect, it pushed against black thighs, smearing pre-fluids on the plating. As Thundercracker lifted one of his legs to fit around his hip and allow more space to move, Skywarp just offlined his optics, not wanting to watch his mate as penetrated him.

A loud agonizing screech sounded over the camp as the unprepared and dry valve was penetrated. No matter how used the pain had become over the vorns, Skywarp was not able to keep himself silenced at the spark consuming agony coursing through his frame.

Moments later the pain in the valve was followed by pain registering in his wings.

Slicing the black wings with his claws, Thundercracker punctuated the words leaving his vocalizer as he began to thrust into the valve.

/You. Are. Never. Going. To. Challenge. My. Right. To. Mate. With. You. Understood!/ the Winglord panted as he carved deep gashes into the black wings, ruining the precious appendages with his claws.

Skywarp slumped in the hold Thundercracker had on him.

He felt his valve lubricate under the onslaught as the spike tore the valve lining and energon began to flow. It eased the move by the spike, but also burnt in the wounds made to the insides of his delicate interface array. Every thrust into his valve was pure agony, while the movements out was a short relief until either energon filled the wounds or the spike began its travel into him again.

After few thrusts he was a whimpering mess, begging for Thundercracker to stop.

But the Winglord never did.

Listening to the grunts and groans leaving the Winglord, he just hoped Thundercracker would overload soon and be done with it.

He could already feel the wounds on his wings and in his valve tax on his reserves and if he opened his optics he knew he would see a large pool of his life fluids gathered at his thrusters, he could feel it wetting his thrusters.

He felt sick and nauseous and just wanted to purge but didn’t have the energy to do so. 

Opening his optics to see what he already knew, his equilibrium spun at the sensory input and he was unable to focus his optics on anything. Closing them was even harder and he had to will the optics to turn off to leave the sight that made him feel even more sick and nauseous.

In his illness it took him a moment to realize that Thundercracker no longer was thrusting into his frame. Confused he replayed the last few moments and with a sinking feeling in his tank realized that Thundercracker yet had to overload.

That only meant on thing.

He began to squirm in the merciless hold on him, trying without luck to get away from what waited.

/No, no, no, no./ he begged weakly as he felt Thundercracker force his chestplates apart.

As the plating buckled under the force and the hinges was forced out of shape, sharp pain shot through his sensory net, and he whimpered as the chestplates relented and was forced open.

/Don’t. Please don’t./ he pleaded.

/You are mine! MINE!/ Thundercracker growled and forced the transparent sparkchamber open, causing Skywarp to scream out his agony.

Skywarp couldn’t stop his optics from onlining at the agonizing pain claiming his whole being when his spark was completely bared. The pain was so much more intense than the ones in his wings and valve that it drowned out everything else. His optics wide with pain he watched as Thundercracker opened his own chestplates and revealed his spark.

Seeing his mate’s spark, he instantly turned off his optics, not wanting to see the former light blue - now turned pitch black spark anymore. He knew that his own had turned into a muddy brown one, no longer the beautiful yellow color.

Before their sparks meet, he felt the others lips on the energon line in his neck and the nick to it as the fangs pierced the line. Then Thundercracker began to thrust into him again, now with greater force and clearly higher arousal as he suckled on the bleeding energon line, drinking from his mate.

As he entered the Meta world created by their sparks, Skywarp was filled with constant pain. Looking around he was greeted by the sick greyish green color their former yellow Meta world had turned into. 

Nothing had escaped the effect of Thundercrackers insanity.

Cowering during the time he had to spend there he didn’t voice out anything, he wasn’t even sure it went through to Thundercracker if he did, even if they were in each other’s’ sparks.

Finally he felt the Winglord overload and when he was returned to his frame he was completely spent, the loss of energon greatly affecting him. This time had been so much more vicious than previous encounters. 

He felt Thundercracker withdrawing from his chest and valve and slumped to the ground when the Winglord released him from the grip he had had on him.

Lying there on the ground in an undignified heap he watched Thundercracker walk away, leaving him in his completely open and ruined state. He was damaged, his wounds flooding with energon and his spark completely exposed with the chestplates barely hanging at the hinges. He wasn’t able to move, barely able to force the air into his frame and he felt more and more of his consciousness slipping away.

‘I’m dying’ registered in his mind as Thundercracker left his vision completely, then his optics went black and unconsciousness claimed him.

At the resting area Silvershade knew what was going on; every seeker in the camp knew it.

The fighting among the Winglord and his consort was reoccurring and had been through a great deal of the last thousand vorns.

But only a few knew how possibly deadly the fights turned out, since so few dared to stay in the area to watch what was going to happen. The seekers not at the resting area when the first roar sounded hurried to get there, and while no one watched the fight they were forced to witness the sounds of it.

Because of that the atmosphere in the resting area was filled with dread, and when Silvershade decided that they needed to know how bad it was going to turn out, he and his trinemates was greeted by frightened optics looking at them while they passed through the rest area.

As the trine came to the location of the Winglord and his consort, they just saw Thundercracker overload into Skywarp, the Winglord roaring his pleasure while no movements registered in the black and purple seeker.

Deep concern filled the dominant at the sight of Skywarps weak state and behind him he heard his concern mirrored in the hushed voices of his trinemates.

When Thundercracker left, the concern grew as Skywarp just slumped down, not taking care of his valve or visible spark showing.

When he saw the black and purple seekers optics turn grey as Skywarp turned unconscious he was in movement instantly towards the damaged seeker.

Kneeling down beside Skywarp he placed pressure on the leaking energon line in his neck, from where Thundercracker had fed from his mate. It was a strange sadistic behavior from Thundercracker draining his mate, causing an even larger loss of life fluids from the already damaged seeker. Coughing he spat out his nanite rich substance and began to heal the leak.

While Silvershade went to do what he could, healing the energon line, Allevaria had turned his focus on the completely shredded wings bleeding even more energon. It was a fight against time for them, if they were to save the seeker from the loss of energon, and while the black and pink seeker went on sealing the clawed gashes in the wings, Salvacia went directly for the spark.

Pushing his claws into the open sparkchamber, Salvacia cradles Skywarps life force protectively in his grasp willing it to stay with the frame. Pulling on his abilities of salvation he tries to stop the spark from fading further, redeeming it from the ethereal plane.

Even with their shared efforts to save the seeker, Silvershade watches as the black wings slowly begin to grey all while his trinemates frantically uses their abilities to keep the seeker in the world of the living.

With every klik more of the black and purple coloration fades to grey and the greying expand rapidly, covering the wings and moving towards the center of the frame. He fells panic filling his trinemates as the grey color slowly claims more of the seeker until only the chestplates is left with specks of coloration. 

At this stage they know that they won’t be able to save him and that the seeker only has nano kliks to live before the spark fades from the frame. Still they work; as long as just a little life was left, there were hope.

As the trine worked feverishly to save him, Skywarp’s essence floated detached above them. The only thing keeping his essence in the mortal world was the tie it still had to his frame through the weak and thinning string connected to the still lingering spark in his frame.

Studying the trine with a deep interest, he listens to their panicked pleas for him to stay with them, to let them save him. He can see fluids flowing from Salvacia’s optics as the submissive stubbornly keep his servos cradled around his spark, even as his energy drains rapidly from the use of his abilities.

Lowering from the height he is floating at, he touch the blue and red seeker and is surprised as the seeker reacts, looking up at him for a moment like he is visible, but then a klik later the gaze is returned to his frame.

Taking a deeper look at his dying frame he is shocked by the damage Thundercracker has done to him. His wings are no longer wings, but lots of guttered pieces of plating which Allevaria fight to knit together to once again resemble the beauty they had held.

Anger fills him at the thought of Thundercracker.

Why should he return to THAT?

It would be better to be death.

As he watches the trine work he sees the grey telltale of death approaching as it slowly begins to travel his frame, moving from the wings and slowly towards the center of his frame, covering more and more of his frame with every klik passing.

He sees the panic grow in the trine as they fight against time, their pleas become more pressing and they work more frantic. At a point Salvacia needs to be steadied by Silvershade in keeping the hold on the spark as his energy drains, but even the dominant isn’t unaffected. With quivering wings Silvershade curses him loudly for his blatant way of challenging the Winglord, curses him for leaving like this, giving up after so much time, challenging him to come back to them.

Snorting Skywarp just crosses his arms over his celestial cockpit in defiance.

Consumed by the trine Skywarp isn’t much aware of his other surroundings. A portal opens behind him and begins to expand, covering the area in a neon green hue. As it expands, more of the area around the seeker in enlightened in the color, while parts further away slowly grey out and vanish. But first when he feels the strange pull as the portal is complete does the detached essence of the seeker register the new presence.

Turning around Skywarp stares in awe at the strange fluctuating portal which has emerged from nowhere. 

Bathed in the green light he takes a few careful steps towards it. As he moves closer he can feel it calling to him, filling him with soothing sensations and the feeling of lingering touches on his frameless essence. Almost touching the swirling portal, ready to pass through it, he is halted in his move when a frame begins to appear in the swirling green. In fear he takes a few steps back as the frame steps out of the portal.

The frame is of a seeker, its wings on the back filling almost the whole portal as it stepped through. When it steps out of the portal he is awe struck at the sight of the whole seeker. It is translucent, letting light shine through the armor, and yet not translucent at all. As he watches, flashes of light travels down the large frame almost as large as Thundercrackers.

The aura of power stemming from the seeker is almost physically touchable with sparks of light springing from the frame. Shaken to his core at the sight of the seeker, he can’t stop himself as he slowly kneels in submission before the marvelous sight of the seeker, acknowledging the others superiority. 

‘Who are you?’ he can’t stop wonder as he worship the sight before him.

Then the being kneels down in front of him and reaches out a servo for him to take. Just staring at the offered appendage showing the same translucence as the rest of the frame, it takes him a moment to gather enough courage to take the offered help.

Feeling the power in the servo offered as he takes it, he is lifted gently to his thrusters fixatedly looking at the servo held in his own. As his servo is released he just stares dumbly at where the others servo had been a klik before.

Then he shakes himself out of the stupor and gathering up his courage lifts his gaze to look into the optics of the other. He is greeted by the sight of twin black orbs as deep as any endless abyss, yet still light twinkles in them. Just like stars he realizes after a moment.

Caught in the sight of the marvelous seeker before him, nothing else matters, not the trine behind him fighting for his life, not what Thundercracker have become, and not even what the Winglord has done, nothing.

Then the seeker speaks to him.

He closes his optics at the sound of the voice. It is like the soothing caress of gentle winds passing over his frame. Like the sky welcoming him home. Like the gentle touch of a creator.

He can’t stop the sob from leaving at the thought of all that he has lost.

In all the beauty, despair fills his essence and he lets out a pitiful scream.

Thundercracker has finally taken everything from him.

Hate begins to boil in him at the thought of the Winglord. All the gathered feelings he haven’t voiced out to his mate through all the vorns now forces themselves upon him and he feels his being becoming consumed by deep hatred.

His vision blurs and the being before him slowly begin to fade.

He hears the voice again, this time filled with concern.

/Skywarp, let it go. Don’t let it consume you. Stay with me!/ the being asks of him.

But how can he just let it all go?

All the vorns of pain, of torture, of rapes?

How can he forgive the one who should have protected him, for the harm he did?

/I know it is hard. But you need to. Or you are lost to me./ the other explains.

Not forgiving Thundercracker for what he has done, Skywarp lets the destructive feeling go with a sigh.

Slowly his vision returns as the hatred leaves him like fluids spilling through his servos. It is no longer able to keep its hold on him and he slump as the last seed of hate withers. Instead he is suddenly filled with elation as the sensation of being airborne and weightless fills his essence, the well-known sensations lulling him into a strange sense of peace and calm.

Floating in the soothing sensations he looks weakly at the other seeker, crocking his helm in curiousness.

/Who are you?/ he asks reveling in the feeling of the wind caressing his celestial wings.

/I am everything, in everything. I am the wind, I am the sky, I am in the smallest critters and in the largest hunters. I am your creator Skywarp no matter what you call me./ The Sky Above smiled as he spoke.

With wide optics, Skywarp looks incredulous at the god.

/Sky Above./ he whispers causing the smile on the others lips to widen.

/Why are you here?/ he then asks awed.

/I have come for you Skywarp. To stop you from dying completely./ The Sky Above answers in a serious tone. Pointing at the portal the god elaborates. /If you had moved through the portal, you would never be able to return to your frame. You would have died completely./

Frowning, Skywarp looks at the god. /But what does it matter if I die completely?/

Instead of explaining it further, the god turns and walks to where the trine still fights to keep Skywarp in the world of the living.

Not giving up Skywarp press on. /What if I want to die?/ he asks.

/Then nothing is stopping you from walking through the portal./ The Sky Above answers before turning towards him again and gesture for Skywarp to follow him.

As Skywarp floats beside The Sky Above, the god continues.

/But I want you to know what consequences your decision have on those you leave behind./ and the expression on the god is one of sorrow.

When he speaks next, the voice even holds some of the sorrow visible on his face:

/They fight for you, yet still they will fail this time. You damages this time exceed what gifts I have bestowed upon them to heal./

Lifting his gaze from the trine on the ground, Skywarp just stares.

/Why? Why me? Why save me? I’m a worthless “nothing”./ Skywarp asks, his optics trying to read the expression on the face of the god.

/You are important Skywarp. You might not think it so, but you are./ The Sky Above just answers, looking further into the camp before he begins to walk.

Following the god without a thought Skywarp just spares the working trine a glance before he floats to the side of the god as they move further into the camp.

/I can’t see why I am important. I’m a sole seeker. Many are stronger and better than me./ He states.

/Because you were my chosen together with Thundercracker./ the god simply explains, stopping Skywarp from protesting at the mention of his mate.

/Thundercracker should have been a Winglord of change, one that would bring peace to all of my people. You and Thundercracker and your future third would have been a Winglord trine of change. Yet you paths deviated./ The Sky Above sigh.

/Like the war? Like mine and Thundercracker’s insanity? Like my mate KILLING me?/ Skywarp snorts, unable to keep silent.

Stopping in his walk as they reach the resting area of the camp, the god turns to look at the frameless seeker.

/I know the pain you have lived through Skywarp. Compared to your life, death must seem tempting./ a sad smile forms on the god. /Come follow me./ The Sky Above then says, his voice turning serious.

With purpose in his steps the god walks into the resting area and soon Skywarp realize that he is aimed at his and Thundercrackers resting area. Curious he follows.

When the god abruptly stops, Skywarp almost floats into him.

His attention had been drawn to the surrounding area as they walked. He had wondered why everything was so silent and why the seekers present in the resting area had been filled with so many contradicting feelings. He had sensed everything from hope to deep despair and fear. It mystified him even more since their attention was directed at the Winglords resting area.

At the sound of the god’s voice Skywarp turns his attention to what has stopped The Sky Above in his advance into the resting area.

/This is the consequence of you dying, Skywarp./ with the words the god gestures in front of him.

Floating up beside the god, Skywarp is greeted by a horrible sight.

Before him Thundercracker is almost completely greyed out, showing the same few specks of coloration as Skywarps own frame as the only sign that he isn’t completely gone. He is completely still lying there on the ground, his servos cradled around his chestplates and his expression one of pain and deep, deep sorrow.

Unable to stop himself Skywarp is beside the frame of his mate nano kliks later and realizes when he reaches for his mate, that he is unable to touch the other. His servo just passes through the frame, not leaving any traces of his affectionate move.

Looking up at the god he pleads:

/Help him. Please?/ he asks in despair.

/I can’t./ The Sky Above tells him, his voice soft and caring.

As Skywarp slumps at the answer, the god kneels beside him and the frame of his mate.

/But you can./ The Sky Above continues, gently caressing the distressed frameless seeker.

Looking into the optics of the god, hope blooms in Skywarps optics.

/How?/ he asks with a whisper.

/Your bond is what is dragging Thundercracker down with you. You need to return, to live. I have already measured the consequences for you to return to life, and this is a sacrifice for both you and Thundercracker to make. You will never experience the sensation of a complete trine, of what makes every seeker whole, but you will live and be together. Yet, it is not all; the greatest sacrifice is for you alone. You will have to live with the torment and pain Thundercracker lash out with, but if you do, a reward will await you./ the god explains in a serious voice.

Paling as the sentence for it all to return to normal is measured; Skywarp is frozen as the magnitude of what he has to sacrifice to save Thundercracker becomes clear.

Looking down at the greyed form of his mate, Skywarp thinks.

Could he do it? Live through the pain and torture again?

Was Thundercracker worth it?

Was he himself worth a life without ever getting their third and make them complete?

Would it be easier being dead? Could he die peacefully with the knowledge of what it did to Thundercracker, to their people?

Gazing up at the god after several breems of silence, Skywarps optics has hardened.

With a stiff nod in acknowledgement he agrees to the terms.

A smile graces the lips of The Sky Above, and it is the last Skywarp sees before a blinding light consumes him.


	23. Chapter 23

It took Skywarp several orns before he finally woke after his revival.

Silvershade and his trinemates had been filled with relief when the colors began to return on the almost greyed out frame, but still the seeker didn’t wake up. It was understandable with how much energon he had lost and how close he had been to not make it at all.

Thundercracker was another thing.

The Winglord had suffered from Skywarps close call, but without the severe wounds Skywarp had, Thundercracker was stronger and could rise from the ground where he had laid almost by himself a few cycles later.

To protect Skywarp from the Winglord, Silvershade had decided to take the seeker with him to another clan, to put some distance between the couple. The Quick flight clan had greeted them willingly when they saw Skywarp held securely between the trine as they landed unannounced.

Now four orns had passed where Skywarp had stayed in what Silvershade only could describe as a healing stasis, his own systems healing that of his frame Allevaria hadn’t been able to, and his sparkchamber was now closed safely around the strong pulsing spark.

It was a good sign.

Now they just needed for him to wake, before they could determine the complete damage, and whether the close call had done damage to his mind.

Late in the fourth orn, Silvershade was alerted by Salvacia that Skywarp had started his reboot sequence and was coming out of the stasis. Anxious the trine gathered around the black and purple seeker.

The first clue that Skywarp really was wakening was the jerks by the wings. They twitched as the healed sensors began to register data from their surroundings. Then the self-diagnostics onlined and scanned the frame, testing the frames functionality before the seeker gained consciousness. If something malfunctioned during the test, the stasis would resume, allowing the self-repair to take care of the lingering damage. When a new scan by the self-diagnostics activated and came back all green, only then would the seeker wake completely from the stasis.

As Skywarps thrusters began to online and spit small flames, the trine let out a sigh of relief. All the vital systems had passed the test for the frame to test the less essential parts. When the frame went silent once again, the atmosphere was thick with expectations and tension.

Then large vibrations shock the frame and with a violent jerk, Skywarp took a large breath of air just before his optics onlined.

Venting heavily, Skywarp just lay there and looked up at the sky. Allowing the revived seeker a moment of his own before they began asking questions, Silvershade sat back and flexed his wings.

/I saw you./ Skywarp croaked after a breem of silence, coughing he tried to clear his hoarse voice.

/What do you mean Skywarp?/ Silvershade asked, frowning.

/You, working on me. I saw you./ the black and purple seeker explained further.

Nodding, Silvershade acknowledged what Skywarp thought he had witnessed, not believing the statement, filling it away as a part of Skywarps insanity.

But Skywarp knew it was the truth.

He hadn’t just imagined or dreamt of The Sky Above coming to him or his detachment from his own frame which had allowed him to watch the trines work.

When he had awoken, he had felt that something was different. He no longer felt the spark consuming grief that had haunted him every cycle ever since the first newspark’s termination. It had been kept fresh in his mind by the voices and in his dreams by the sight of the terminated creations.

Shaken to his core he realized what had changed.

His mind was his own again. There were no voices talking.

Somehow his insanity had vanished.

For the first time in a very long time he felt his mind clearer, the grief no longer shadowing his logic processor. With a clear mind he understood what had happened to him, and to Thundercracker. Why they had been targeting each other so much and why the violence had escalated.

That understanding pained his spark.

It was so obvious to him now.

He had been part of his own undoing.

With that understanding, he also realized what The Sky Above had done for him.

He now had a chance to right the wrongs.

Trying to get up from the ground, his frame complains and pain shots through the newly healed plating.

Groaning he forces the pain from his mind as he slowly rise to his thrusters, a new determination filling his spark.

Looking around, he realizes he isn’t in the Swiftstrike clan. Frowning he turns to Silvershade.

/I need to get back. Thundercracker needs me./ he tells the other, meeting an equally frowning expression on the dominant.

/I don’t think that is wise, Skywarp. You have just woken from a stasis. You came as close to dying as anyone ever has been without actually dying. You should rest./ Silvershade argues.

/No rest. Need to do this. Need Thundercracker./ the black and purple seeker blabbers, not quite noticing what he is saying.

Firing his thrusters suddenly, Skywarp is in the air a klik later.

Cursing, Silvershade calls to his trinemates before he follows the departing form of the black and purple seeker. He isn’t going to let Skywarp get himself slagged again in an encounter with the Winglord, now that they had just pulled him from the brink of near termination by Thundercracker.

/SKYWARP!/ he calls to the fleeing form of the seeker, but the other doesn’t respond.

Frustrated he tries to catch up with the submissive, but when he gets within reach to grab the black and purple seeker, Skywarp teleports out of his range again.

Sensing his trinemates coming up behind him, he is about to order them to hunt the submissive. With their lighter frames and higher speed they will be able to keep up with the fleeing submissive.

But before he is able to voice out the order, he is embraced by the both of them and they halt him in his flight.

Enraged at their behavior, he snarls at them.

/Let him go./ Allevaria tells him, his hold on the dominant tightening when Silvershade struggles to get free of their combined hold.

/Let go of me!/ he roars. /I have to stop him. If he gets within reach of Thundercracker, he is slagged again!/ he growls.

/I don’t think so. I didn’t sense any hostility from him before he flew away./ Salvacia soothed. /Whatever his intentions are, they aren’t violent./ the submissive continues.

A growl of anger leaves the dominant.

/When we get to the Swiftstrike clan, you will behave properly! I won’t forget this, Salvacia, Allevaria. But we need to make sure Skywarp is safe, before you get your punishment for this disobedience!/ He snarls before he wrench himself free of their embrace.

Sharing a look, the submissives lower their wings as they fly after Skywarp. The black and purple seeker is far gone from their sight.

Landing in the Swiftstrike clan, Skywarp is on the move the instant his thrusters touches the ground. Storming to the rest area, he hopes to find the Winglord there. But as he reaches the area, their resting place is empty.

Franticly looking around to see if he can get a glimpse of Thundercrackers wings, he attracts attention from the seekers who is at the resting area.

/Skywarp./ Crossfire greets him as the dominant emerges from the group of seekers who have gathered around the black and purple seeker.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Skywarp hurries to the side of the dominant.

/Thundercracker, where is he? Is he okay?/ the black and purple seeker asks, his frame trembling with emotions.

/Eh, yeah. Just saw him leave with a group to go hunting./ Crossfire tells him, pointing at the direction he had just come from.

Voicing out a rapid thank you, Skywarp runs in the direction pointed out and when he is free of the resting area he fires his thrusters to follow the departing group visible in the distance.

Just as Skywarp leaves the clan, Silvershade and his trinemates land somewhere else in the clan, unaware that the flighty seeker has left.

When they a breem later come across Crossfire, Silvershade roars in frustration when the other informs them that Skywarp is long gone after Thundercracker. Sending his trinemates a heated glare, Silvershade leaves them in his anger – this was their fault.

Following the departing group of seekers, Skywarp initiates his teleportation to catch up with them faster. As he gets closer and closer he can see the larger frame of the Winglord in the front of the group. Chirring happily, he forces his thrusters to their maximum.

Taking the group by surprise he teleports in front of them when he is within range.

Thundercracker lets out a snarl when he is forced to violently change course to avoid collision with the appearing seeker. The purple mist before Skywarp appeared only gave him nano kliks to deviate and behind him the group is spread wide to avoid collision as well, reacting on instinct when Thundercracker abruptly changed course. 

Transforming into bipedal mode Thundercracker lets out a menacing growl. Seeing Skywarp floating a dozens of feet away, he orders the rest of his group to proceed on the hunt.

When the last seeker leaves the pair, Skywarp daringly floats closer to the Winglord.

Flaring his wings wide allowing them to fan and vibrate in special patterns he challenges the Winglord to play with him. Then he flips around in the air and initiates his transformation slowly. When he is fully transformed, his wings still twitch in tantalizing patterns sending blatant signals to his mate. It all takes no more than a few kliks, but during that time he manages to rile Thundercracker enough, that when he blasts of, playfully initiating loops and dives as he vanish, the Winglord snarls and roars at the departing frame of the submissive.

Not pursuing the submissive instantly, Thundercracker narrows his optics and lets out an angry growl at the departing submissive. His anger grows when his systems pends him to react to the display made by Skywarp. The signals transmitted by the submissive causes his own coding to respond, but the Winglord isn’t sure what Skywarp is up to.

Feeling Skywarp pinging him through their bond with daring feelings, Thundercracker lets out a howl of anger and intent on teaching the submissive a lesson, he transforms and blasts away in pursuit of his black and purple mate.

A few miles ahead of the Winglord, Skywarp plays in the sky. As he twists and turns in the air, he turns his flight into an elegant dance with the sky itself. Freefalling, looping and diving, he flirts with the wind and enjoys the caresses he gets from the wind in return. The daring flight fills him with giddiness and he can’t wait for Thundercracker to join him. 

When he breems later hears the telltale of Thundercrackers powerful engines, he trills with happiness. Seeing the Winglord approach him fast, he transforms to his bipedal and enters a new dance with the sky. Putting on a perfect display of willingness to mate, he hopes to sooth the usual anger Thundercracker favors him with. Flipping around in beautiful arches in the air using his thrusters to stay airborne, he continues his daring display in front of the approaching dominant, dancing and flirting with the sky as well as his approaching mate.

Skywarps display is usually performed among the trines not having a dominant. Its intention is to solve the issues arising when one submissive enters heat and there isn’t a dominant to naturally mate with it. It would turn into infighting in the trine among the last two submissives for the right to mate with the heat suffering trinemate. Instead of turning to that infighting the two instead perform mating dances on display in front of the heat suffering trinemate, and then it is up to that trinemate to choose which of them to mate with.

Seeing Skywarp tantalizingly displaying his flaring wings, showing his willingness to mate, Thundercracker hovers at a distance, skeptically watching his mate’s display. The urge to punish the black and purple seeker for his display grows as Thundercracker feels that Skywarp is mocking him. Every time he wants to mate with the black and purple seeker it turns into a fight between the two, because Skywarp defies him.

Skywarp never willingly offers to mate and the Winglord isn’t going to believe that that has changed suddenly.

When Thundercracker doesn’t react to his display, joining him in the dance, Skywarp slowly stops. His wings drooping low on his back and stopping the flaring. Chirring with sadness he watches the Winglord just hovering a distance away.

How can he convince Thundercracker about his sincerity?

Slowly descending and landing on the ground, he looks longingly up at the still hovering blue seeker.

Letting out a little trill, he calls to the other.

Grunting, Thundercracker gives in a moment later and follows the submissive down.

With a thud the Winglord lands on the ground and turns to Skywarp. Prepared in case Skywarp decides to turn violent, he flexes his claws. He doesn’t trust the submissive in not planning something. Skywarp has lately turned too aggressive for a submissive, acting more like a dominant and triggering Thundercrackers coding to fight him, resulting in their regular fights and the damages to the black and purple seeker.

What he isn’t prepared for is Skywarp kneeling submissively in front of him, his wings held low and close to the black and purple frame.

Frozen to the spot, Thundercracker waits for Skywarp to do something. But the submissive just stays obediently in his place, waiting for Thundercracker to order him.

Since the flirting display in the air wasn’t enough to convince his mate, Skywarp has turned to the only other way, showing complete and utter submission and obedience. It isn’t like him to do so, something that Thundercracker in their early orns together accepted as a part of who Skywarp was.

With his helm bowed, almost touching the ground Skywarp grovels in front of his mate. He hopes that his clear submission shows Thundercracker how truly sincere his is in his acts. He really wants to become the perfect submissive trinemate again, and not instigate anymore fights among them.

Out of his view, with his helm lowered submissively, he doesn’t see the surprise in Thundercrackers optics at his groveling. Then narrowing his optics, not completely believing Skywarp still, Thundercracker takes a step back before he begin to walk around the kneeling seeker. Reaching out a clawed servo now and then, the Winglord applies touches to parts of the black and purple frame, sometimes caressing, sometimes scratching the plating, drawing tiny droplets of energon from the tiny wounds. During it all Skywarp stays silent and completely still, swallowing the small whimpers threatening to leave his vocalizer.

Sensing Thundercrackers intense stare roaming his frame as the Winglord circles him, testing him, his spark begins to pulse harder. His frame is slowly aroused at the touches now and then applied to his frame and the feeling of being on display like this in front of his mate causes a fire to burn in his core. He feels how his wings tingle with sensations, reacting to both the gentle as well as the rougher touches done to them. Shaking himself out of the haze of arousal awoken in his frame, Skywarp just manages to register that Thundercracker no longer is circling him.

The Winglord has stopped, and is standing behind him, out of view.

He can’t help it, the arousal and endless possibilities filling his mind causes his wings to tremble soundly and his spark pulses faster in its chamber as he waits for what Thundercracker is going to do next. He has given in completely to whatever the Winglord is going to do to him. He knows it can turn out to be pleasurable as well as agonizingly painful.

The sight of Skywarps complete obedience and submission does something strange to the Winglord. He can feel the temperature in the black and purple frame rising, and the visible sign of arousal causes Thundercracker’s own arousal to burn mercilessly through his frame. As his own frame heats and his fans whirrs to life, his spike makes itself known, throbbing as it slowly begin to pressurize behind its cover. With his arousal dominating his mind completely he lowers himself to the ground behind Skywarp, a long forgotten burning need for his mate awakening within him.

Skywarp hears as Thundercracker kneels down behind him, and not long after, he feels the other’s claws tracing his wings again. His wing sensors gladly transmits the pleasurable touches. Then his whole sensor net in the left wing almost screams out data signals and he lets out a startled yelp when he registers Thundercrackers glossa tracing the tiny wounds done to the wing earlier, licking the tiny drops of energon which has surfaced.

Squirming under the onslaught of sensations, he fights to stay calm and silent.

Moments later Thundercracker does the same to the right wing and a weak moan escapes Skywarps vocalizer.

Panting, the black and purple frame tries to expel the growing heat in its core while Skywarp digs his claws into the ground beneath to stop himself from giving in to the urges compelling him to move. His valve cover has become burning hot with lubricants gathering just behind it and he desperately feels the need to move to ease the burning sensation. It doesn’t help that Thundercracker keeps licking his wings, going from wing hinges to wing tips and then tracing the edges around the whole wing, causing the whole sensor net in the wing to flare in reaction to the arousing stimulation.

Exploring his ailerons, dipping the glossa into the delicate parts of his wings, Thundercracker wrenches a strangled groan from him and he can’t stop moving his bowed legs a bit. At his movements the Winglord, bites punishingly down on the tip of his right wing and Skywarp whimpers as the pain shoots through his sensor net, trying his best to stay completely still.

The pain does nothing to ease the uncomfortable feeling in his valve as more and more lubricant gathers and when the feeling finally becomes too much for even his frame, the valve cover releases the gathered liquids as it slides aside by itself, allowing the lubricants to pool on the ground beneath the quivering seeker.

Whimpering as the cold air touches his overheated valve; Skywarp digs his claws further into the ground.

Behind him, Thundercracker lets out a pleased purr at the sound of the opening valve. Seeing the pooling lubricants the Winglord groans, as the scent of it reaches his olfactory sensor and his spike begins to throb painfully behind its cover, pressing even more to be released. In response to his groan Skywarp moans needy, pressing his wings firmly into his mate’s touch, wanting more stimulation.

When Thundercracker instead withdrew completely from him, he whined piteously. Consumed by the haze of arousal he lifted his rear, resting on servos and knees and ground his rear back to grind against Thundercracker. With Thundercracker kneeling as well, that meant that when he touched the Winglord, his open valve ground against Thundercrackers closed spike cover.

Letting out a hiss at the pleasurable stimulation to his cover, Thundercracker thrust into Skywarps movements, grinding their plating firmer together. As the pleasure grew and Thundercrackers grind turned more and more feverish with every needy moan from the submissive the spike cover finally slid aside and the spike pressurized completely.

When Skywarp ground back, unaware of the spikes release, he captured the fully erect spike between their frames, and the forceful grind done to it caused Thundercracker to let out a strangled warble, feeling pain as well as pleasure from the grind. Restraining Skywarp, placing a servo at the back of his neck and around his midsection, Thundercracker loomed above the smaller seeker. Then with a shove he forced Skywarps helm completely down on the ground, keeping the submissive in line before he thrust into the dripping valve.

Fully seated in the valve, feeling the calipers eagerly welcoming him, Thundercracker leaned his weight on Skywarps back and began to frag his mate with shallow thrusts. Pressing Skywarp into his thrusts with his servo around the submissives midsection, the sensors on both the spike and in Skywarps valve are lit with pleasure at the grinding motion from the spike.

Beneath him, Skywarp moans shamelessly at the penetration. With his helm turned to one side, forced into the ground he can see part of Thundercrackers helm resting on his right wing. Where Skywarp moans the Winglord groan and grunts with each thrust into the quivering valve. Seeing the deep lust in the orange optics, Skywarp shudders with emotion and his valve ripples around the spike in reaction.

To the black and purple seeker, it is almost like having his mate back, without the insanity.

His spark swells with the need for the other, with the pleasure shared between them and with hope, and when he finally cave in and the overload claims him, his spark feels purer and lighter. Hearing Thundercracker overloading with a roar and a final hard thrust into him, he begins to sob. All the feelings he released in the presence of the god and had to swallow to not be consumed by hatred resurfaces, and this time he lets them go completely, forgiving his trinemate, mate and sparkmate for what he has done.

When Thundercracker then gently caresses his left wing while murmuring nonsense, completely spent and unable to move, the sobs turn into outright crying and he just lies there, hoping beyond hope that this is going to change everything between them.

And make it all right again.


	24. Chapter 24

12.000 vorns later, Cybertron:

Curled in recharge, Skywarp and Thundercracker formed a complete circle with their frames. One black wing and one blue wing lay carefully on top of each other, causing the area between their frames to be protected from all sides.

It was in the middle of the night cycle of the orn, the planet covered in darkness and only the stars gave away a bit of light.

A weak whimper escaped the black and purple frame, stirring Skywarp from his recharge.

Moving from his side to his front, still allowing his wing to connect with the Winglords, he kept the temperature between their frames stable. Looking down his frame he caressed his cockpit gently, cooing affectionately. When the sound sounded once more, he retracted it and withdrew the latest of their creations. The tiny seekerling had just been birthed five orns ago and still needed to be kept close to its carriers spark, both to get the needed warmth and feel completely safe in a strange new world. Pouring deep affection through his bond with the little one, Skywarp withdrew a feeding line and the seekerling latched onto it with fervor. Clicking with happiness he urged the little one on in its feeding, enjoying the feel of his creation draining on his energy. It was a strange heady feeling to feel the slow drain, knowing that that energy would end with a new matured seeker in time. Moaning at the feeling, he let his helm fall back and offlined his optics.

It had all begun 8.000 vorns ago. After 4.000 vorns, living with his still rather insane mate, Skywarp had been rewarded for his determination and loyalty to the Winglord. When he had begun to watch his own way of acting around the Winglord, their relationship and bond had become a lot healthier. Still they hadn’t been able to communicate through their bond, but it was no longer poisoned, and he felt the pure arousing sensations when they merged their sparks.

The reward The Sky Above had granted him was the return of his heat.

He had not known when the god had deemed him worthy enough; it had just flared viciously one orn.

The whole event was something seekers still spoke about, since it had affected the whole clan.

And why wouldn’t it. Skywarp had been barren for so long time, no one though it possible for him to ever be able to carry.

Looking down at the little seekerling laying lazily on his chest and feeding, he let out a little laugh. At the rumbling from inside its carrier, the little translucent being stopped sucking on the feeding line and looked questioning up at its carrier. Caressing the seekerling gently on its small wings, he urged it through the bond to continue, assuring it that everything was fine. When it returned its attention to the fuel fed to it, he sighed contently.

When he had felt the first pangs of pain followed by the convulsions he hadn’t been able to believe that what he felt was true. When the painful sensations returned and he realized it was true, that he truly was in heat, he had collapsed in despair; fear, anger and angst filling him. He had wished for it to happen for so long, and now that it finally did, he didn’t know what to do or how Thundercracker would react.

With the coding urging him to seek out his dominant, he had walked on unsteady legs to seek out Thundercracker. His travel through the clan, from the resting area where he had been, to the area where Thundercracker had one of his meetings with some of the dominants in the clan, had been done in a pained haze, the old memories of his first sparking filling his processor.

All around him, seekers had stared at the stumbling black and purple frame. Those recognizing his pained stops when the convulsions wreaked havoc in his internals instantly left the clan area with the rest of their trine, those unknown to the rising danger just favored Skywarp with a curious glance.

Seeing the outline of the large blue wings in the distance, the urging grew inside him and he practically ran towards the gathered dominants.

Those with their fronts turned towards the direction Skywarp came from, frowned and some even began to move to intercept the running submissive, the meeting was a dominant only, after all.

Then the wind playfully lends Skywarp a helping blow, and blows the special aroma filled scent emitted by the heat suffering seeker into the group of the dominants. With the tantalizing scent, they all turns like one, staring at the approaching black and purple frame hungrily. Only the large menacing roar of fury from the Winglord is able to turn their attention away from the submissive sending out his alluring scent.

Skywarp stops in his advance as they all turn towards him. Fear grips his spark at all the optics looking at him, but locking optics with a certain pair, the fear is drowned out by the coding controlling him. Flaring his wings tantalizing and showing off his frame and his readiness to mate, he displays himself and his willingness to Thundercracker. In return he feels how the Winglords optics follows his movements like a physical touch to his plating, and a moan leaves his vocalizer at the intense feeling sensed through their bond.

With a snarl Thundercracker forces his attention away from the alluring sight of Skywarp and turns to the dominants present around him. Seeing their hungry optics on his trinemate, Thundercracker bares his fangs and snarls. Anger rises in him and he flares his wings in a threatening display on his back, daring any of them to try and stake any claim on the heat suffering submissive. Skywarp is HIS. The furious roar of anger following the display break the spell the alluring scent has cast on the dominants, and they all sense the threat hanging in the air. Wisely they back down, lowering their wings and slowly begins to move away from the pair. When enough distance is between the dominants and the pair, for Thundercracker to silence the continued low frequency growl, they takes to the sky, intent on gathering their trinemates and flee the clan until things between the pair has settled.

They all know that the mating between the pair after this long time without any heat is going to be heated and that Thundercracker in his pre-rut phase and the following rut is a danger to anyone close around.

When Thundercracker stalks towards him, Skywarp feels his spark burning hotter and hotter the closer his mate comes. His wings responds to Thundercrackers displayed claim, rising on his back to their highest setting. When Thundercrackers reacts by vibrating his wings in response he watches the large wings in awe. 

Then, when the overwhelming presence of the Winglord looms above him, he begins to tremble. Emotions fights inside the black and purple seeker, but ultimately the need roused by the heat wins and a needy moan escapes his vocalizer when Thundercracker finally touches him. Pleased with the submissive the Winglord purrs at the moans coming from Skywarp. The sound causes his beginning charge to rise, and when the spike demands to be released, the spike cover lid aside and the spike emerges erect and dripping with prefluids.  
The dominant scents deeply, drawing in the scent of the heat and releases the air with a grunt, blowing the hot air across the trembling black wings. Then as the next convulsion happens in the submissive, Thundercracker swiftly tackles the smaller seeker, catching the black and purple frame before Skywarp touches the ground and lowers his mate as gently as the pre rut allows him, to the ground before he pins him with his own frame.

Grinding his spike against the closed valve cover, it doesn’t take long before Skywarps frame and coding reacts and the cover slides aside to allow Thundercracker to claim his heat suffering mate.

When the Winglord thrusts into him, stretching and filling the valve completely, Skywarp is lost in a haze of burning need and everything afterwards is lost to him.

He doesn’t register as he clings to the dominant, digging his claws into the back of the blue seeker, urging Thundercracker on in their mating, pleading for the Winglord to spark him. During mating Skywarp is usually only able to voice out incoherent sounds, moaning and groaning in pleasure, but this time the words flows from him, his whole being is filled with the need to be sparked, to create together with Thundercracker.

When Thundercracker roars out his fourth overload, jetting copious amounts of transfluids into the submissives valve, he feels how Skywarp trembles under him. It is rare for a submissive to gain overload during the forced mating, but this time Skywarp is so riled from the need and the long lost feelings of the heat that he followed Thundercracker into overload just as his heat sated with the fusion between transfluids and spark fragment.

Coming out of the post overload haze, Skywarp dazedly looks around confused.

The whole encounter is one clouded memory and the feeling of the spark fragment connecting with the transfluids and the fusion between the two, then the connection made to his own spark a breem later is what he remembers most clearly. And of course the following extremely overprotective Winglord he was the lucky seeker to be trined to. Even in his insanity Thundercracker filled the role as mate to a carrying seeker without trouble.

Or at least trouble for Skywarp. 

The clan after all had been screwed in the following many lunar cycles when Thundercracker stayed protectively at the black and purple submissives side.

First when their newspark was birthed into a delicate little seekerling almost eight lunar cycles later did everything return to normal in the clan. A benefit from the whole ordeal was that the following creator/creation bond did miraculous things for their Winglord. The new parental protocols in the Winglord stabilized Thundercracker and erased any trace of the insanity which had affected him for all this time. 

With a sane mind the Winglord became what he had been all those many thousand vorns ago. The first thing changing was their large scale attacks on the grounders on the planet. However the hunt on the grounders was still allowed and the seekers still entered a killing frenzy when doing so, but every grounder was now strictly killed for fuel and not just as revenge or whatever had driven Thundercracker during the last five thousand vorns.

Feeling the seekerling fighting to stay awake and not enter recharge, Skywarp withdrew the feeding line and gently placed the little one inside his cockpit again. Then he carefully moved to lie on his side, his wing still held protectively above the space between the two adult seekers where the smallest ten of their many creations nested in recharge.

Before he initiated his own recharge once again his optics locked with Thundercrackers, content orange shining with affection meeting his own yellow. Letting out a quiet purr he pushed the flood of feelings he harbored for the blue seeker down their bond.

Then he let his recharge claim him, knowing that he and their creations were safe in the closeness of their protective dominant.

At the same time, 12 May 1982 Earth time:

“This is Vanessa Thompson, NBC News. Due to the earthquake earlier today in the State of Washington, the National Guard has informed that an area of 100 square miles around Mount St. Helens is to be evacuated. The earthquake measuring almost 6.9 with its epicenter only twenty miles from the volcano has caused large cracks to open around the base of the volcano. Geologists and seismologists fear that the largest of those cracks has caused the walls of the magma chamber beneath the volcano to weaken and any later after-quakes might cause it to collapse.” The reporter informed on the state wide channel. In the background of the female reporter was the mountain range of the Cascades and in view was the volcano, being a part of the mountain range.

Then the reporter turned to a seismologist beside her and the volcanic expert began to explain what might happen inside the volcano, following an after-quake, and why they needed to evacuate this large an area.

While the humans learned about the explosive effect of a block of the flow of the magma inside the volcano, the earthquake earlier that day had awoken more than just the volcano.

Deep down in the largest of the cracks, almost more like an endless abyss, parts of a spaceship had been released from the earth holding it captive during the last million years. Unknown to the humans the space ship had crash landed there when the topography of the landscape had been completely different. With time the mountain range had formed and during that time the spaceship had been buried by more and more sediment until it rested several miles below the surface of the earth.

Now, with the earthquake shaking the base of the volcano, the spaceship surfaced once again. Still hidden deep below the surface, no humans knew of the secret the volcano housed at its base. After all no one dared to travel down into the cracks, the fear of a collapsed magma chamber and the explosive eruption following it keeping them away.

That allowed the alien beings kept in stasis from damages and lack of energy to lay dormant in their tomb. Only a weak pulse from a stasis pod showed any sign of life, kept active through all this time by the recycling energon in the emergency engine and the artificial intelligence monitoring it.

When the earth covering the spaceship cracked and allowed for weak rays of light reaching that far down to fall upon the spaceship, Teletran 1 automatically activated the solar panels covering the outer surface of the spaceship. Wheeljack had been inventive when designing the spaceship. Lacking energon, they needed to harvest what energy they could on their journey through space, and knowing that they would get within range of not a few stars, he had added the solar panels to harvest what energy they would be able to get from those.

Now those panels activated the long deactivated systems in the spaceship, supplying them with the needed energy. Among those systems was another of the inventor’s crazy ideas, a repair beam. It was designed to repair the inner workings of the spaceship, in case anything was damaged or malfunctioning. Put the thing under the beam and it would slowly be repaired had been his intention for the device. Ratchet had been skeptic. But Wheeljack had insisted. He had argued that it allowed them more time to do what they needed to do, than waste time on repairs, he had even joked that it might even be able to do Ratchet’s work, to which the CMO had threatened the inventor with his largest wrench.

As the beam activated, it began to scan the interior of the command center. Finding severe damage done to every part of the hardware placed there, it began to slowly repair it. As it went on from monitors, to screens to consoles it now and then brushed its beam at the damaged occupants of the command center. Following procedures logged into its software it kept going until it no longer found any damaged hardware. When the beam shut off every part connected to the spaceship was repaired.

Unfortunately that also meant Soundwave.

The communications specialist had been hacking the main central processor of the spaceship when the warp drive had malfunctioned and send them on a warp covering who knows how many light-years of travel, ultimately ending on Earth with a massive impact, knocking everyone onboard unconscious, resulting in their systems entering emergency stasis from damages or the lack of energy, preserving them and becoming their tomb.

With his tentacles attached in several ports on the main central processor of the spaceship, the beam had identified him as a part of the spaceship and had repaired the mech.

Roused from stasis, Soundwaves systems began to reboot as the repairs had been done.

Before onlining his optics, Soundwave reached out with his telepathy, trying to sense if anyone was around him. When nothing intelligent registered, he onlined his optics and took a tentative look around him. Seeing the offline form of an autobot few inches away from where he laid, everything came back to him. Replaying the events leading to their fateful warp through the universe, his processor began to ask questions.

First of all, why was he suddenly awake?

Then secondly, where had they ended.

Running a diagnostic, he found his systems working within normal parameters. His energy reserves however showed levels almost at the point where he would have deactivated during his stasis.

Compared to the seekers, the grounders could continue for a longer length of time without refueling. The grounders, unlike the seekers who needed to fuel to keep them flight capable, only needed the fuel to keep their most basic systems online in their function. In case of an energy shortage, an emergency system would start up and begin to recycle the processed energon, making it last longer, however to get that effect unessential systems has to be shut down to preserve the energon. If the mech is completely offline, only the systems needed to keep the spark energized stays online, prolonging the survival of the mech during the stasis, which is the case with the autobots and decepticons who have crash landed on Earth.

Rising from the floor, Soundwave looks around for the source of his revival. Seeing no one around him, he walks to the main computer and hacks into it to see what has transpired.

Scrolling through countless logs, one particular stands out, having been activated mere cycles before and investigating the system filing the log, he discovers the repair beam.

Activating the system behind the repair beam, he learns about its purpose, and from that knowledge, understands what has happened to him. With purpose he begins to reprogram the software to not only repair the hardware of the spaceship, but to also do so to cybertronians. After cycles of work, he is finally done and he activates the repair beam before leading the beam to Megatron.

Watching the beam slowly repair the decepticon leader, Soundwave begins to sort the mechs in factions, leaving the autobots in a rejected pile to one side while with more care placing the decepticons on a line for their repairs.

It takes two whole cycles for the beam to repair Megatron, and when the beam carry on to the next decepticon in the line, Soundwave crouch down beside the still slack form of his leader.

Several breems pass before the sound of rebooting systems is heard. Then Megatron jerks from his position flat on the floor to sit up abruptly, his battle protocols echoing through his newly repaired frame.

“Megatron.” Soundwave drones, getting the attention of his leader.

“Soundwave. Where- What happened?” Megatron asks confused.

“Crash landed. Location: unknown.” The telepath responds.

Relaxing his frame, Megatron looks around, seeing the autobots in a pile to his left while his decepticons is being repaired to his right. Looking intently on the offline form of the autobot leader, a sneer enters his facial expression.

“I want to know where we are Soundwave.” He orders the telepath as he stands and moves towards the offline frame of his nemesis. Looking into the offline optics of the autobot leader, Megatron can’t quite believe that he finally has defeated the autobots, ignoring the little annoying voice in his head stating that the ‘bots isn’t offline for good and that it wasn’t exactly Megatron himself who defeated them. Kicking the frame of the autobot leader he leaves a dent. When nothing happens a smirk plasters itself onto his lips and he leaves the rejected pile.

At the order, Soundwave releases Laserbeak to survey the surroundings around the crashed spaceship.

When she a cycle later returns, Soundwave has identified the planet they have landed on. It is the planet dubbed E4-A1 of the 110th galaxy, found by scientist 86.354 vorns ago and registered with the probability of holding large deposits of energy. A small footnote adds that speculations at the time had been voiced about the probability of housing life as well.

At the information, Megatron barks out with laughter. Not only did he manage to get rid of his enemies, the world they have landed on is filled with what he precisely was looking for. With his enemies out of the way he would suck this world dry of its energy, and use it to rebuild Cybertron, and nothing would stop him. And if the autobots by any chance did revive, they would have no way to return to Cybertron, he would crush them here on this planet if that happened.

While the autobots didn’t hold any technology enabling them to leave this new planet without sufficient energy, Megatron had a way to leave this planet and even send off its energy to Cybertron.

Shockwave had invented spacebridge technology a vorn before their departure, and it had been tested between their strongholds, providing fast reinforcements if ever needed. The receiver was placed in their headquarters, in Shockwaves own laboratory and monitored by a group of scientist. All Megatron needed to get back to Cybertron was to build one here on the planet and connect it to the receiver on Cybertron.

A feral smile graced his lips.

It took the decepticons two earth days to revive all their troops. Once the constructicons was revived they worked beside the beam to repair their comrades.

Leaving the ruined spaceship, they began the slow climb up the walls of the large crack in the ground, emerging out in the open in the middle of the night. Leaving under the watchful gaze of the single moon in the sky, the decepticons followed instructions given by Soundwave to get to the nearest place having the needed resources for them to build the spacebridge.

As the decepticons began to raid the cities in the area for materials to build their newest project, nothing transpired in the following few earth days.

May 19. 1982 Earth time, Mount St. Helens:

Then a week after the initial earthquake a rather large after-quake shook the underground beneath Mount St. Helens, and the feared event happened; the shook in the ground caused the walls of the magma chamber to collapse, blocking any flow inside the volcano. With more and more magma gathering and unable to flow freely inside the volcano the pressure grew, until it finally became too much, and the volcano not just erupted, but blew away its whole top, sending enormous amounts of pumice, lava and ash into the atmosphere and as wide as several hundred miles away and creating a large caldera when the eruption finally would come to a stop as the lava left the ruptured magma chamber.

Beneath the volcano, in the large crack, the spaceship shakes violently at the explosive eruption. In the dusty room connected to the medbay the stasis pod is severed from the connections keeping it active at the shakes and alarms begins to blare. The alarms showing on the dusty monitor on the lid alerts its surroundings about overheating, loss of energy and fluctuating spark pulses. Following emergency protocols, the pod begin to rouse its occupant.

When the stasis has been negated, the lid slowly opens.

Dust blows in the silent room as the lid opens and finds new rest on the revealed tricolored frame of a seeker.

Then the silence is broken at the sound of rebooting systems. 

An automated self-diagnostic follows the sound before Starscream enters the world of the conscious.

Onlining his optics when released from the stasis, Starscream looks up into the white ceiling. It takes a moment before he realizes that he is alone. Calling out to the others with a weak voice, he gets no answer.

Using his voice drains him, and he feels how drowsy his systems are. Only being sustained by energy and not energon, his systems only run on the fumes of energon left inside him. Normal procedure dictates that when someone is roused from stasis in a pod, they need to have fuel in small amounts to revitalize their systems depending on the time spent in stasis. Without anyone there, Starscream won’t get that needed energon, and his systems has to fight for him to stay online and not drop into a stasis of his own.

Looking blearily around, he frowns at the dust covering everything.

How long has he been gone? He asks himself.

Where is Ratchet? He wonders.

Using some of his last reserves, he manages to sit up in the pod, and takes a better look around. He coughs when his movements cause more of the dust to whirl around in the air and enter his vents. Sitting there, he is sure something is off with him.

Unknown to the seeker 12.000 vorns has passed; and during his slumber in the pod, his systems finished developing completely. He is now a matured seeker with the proper wingspan and the complete systems of a submissive seeker.

Before their departure Ratchet had prepared the pod for the seekers continued growth when they had made the pod, and had made sure that the design of the pod allowed for more space at the shoulder area to accommodate the still growing wings when they were fully developed.

Not seeing anyone, or for that matter hearing anyone, Starscream decides to leave the pod. No use for him to just sit there and wait for anyone when it seems no one is coming.

Leaving the pod on unsteady legs, he has to support himself at the nearest wall when he is out of the pod to avoid losing his balance. With larger wings, his balance is off and he has to get used to the larger mass on his back. Furthermore he realizes, when he try to use it to stabilize him, that his tail is gone. Trying to bring the appendage in front of him, nothing happens, and he reaches a shaking servo to his rear, trying to locate it. However his servo only meets smooth plating without any trace of a tail ever being there. Whimpering he begins to move, taking small steps towards the door leading into the medbay. He feels weak and the trip taxes on his systems. He has been dormant for so long a time that his structure is weakened, from lack of use as well as low energy.

Making his way into the medbay, he looks around to see if anyone is there, but it is empty. However all the supplies Ratchet and Firstaid so neatly placed on shelves and in cabinets is littered all over the floor, making the way through the medbay a maze for the seeker.

Reaching the door, he vents heavily as he stumbles through it and into one of the large corridors. Feeling like purging, heaving heavily as his systems tries to expel the nonexistent energon in his tank, he convulses as pain shoots through his midsection.

He needs fuel and soon, he realizes and with a renewed effort, ignoring the returning pain, he works his way through the corridor to the exit of the spaceship.

Reaching the exit, he forces his unwilling thrusters to activate when he sees the large walls around him. Entering the air, some of the drowsiness clears. Still his HUD warns for low energy, and he can feel his thrusters wanting to shut down. Willing them to stay online, he doesn’t know where he is heading. Looking around, nothing looks like Cybertron, and he worries that there isn’t any useful fuel on this planet.

When a few breems has passed, his thrusters begin to splutter. Grinding his clenched dentas he forces the last amount of fuel to them and manages to land safely. Cursing in both common cybertronian and his own language he begins to walk.

Looking around, he sees nothing of use to him.

Then he smells a strange scent in the air, and identifying a possible fuel source he follows the scent.

Coming to an area milling with strange metallic beings, he watches them pass by, his presence going unnoticed by the strangers.

Scanning one in blue and green colors, he identifies the source of the scent to be the fuel in the beings tank. Feeling his own tank churn at the scent he jumps into action.

With a growl he lands on the grey colored ground, crushing the asphalt under his thrusters and stopping the blue and green metallic being from getting further. As he lifts his prey, screaming starts, however it is silenced when he begins to rip into the being with his fangs, going for the fuel tank. As he attacks the being in his servos, foul red fluids begins to leave the metallic being and he drops it, gagging at the taste. Then his system forces him to the ground, expelling the fluids in his tank when his chemical receptors finds the fuel contaminated with the foul red organic matter incompatible with his systems.

In a haze of discomfort he looks as the area around him suddenly is filled with strange smaller creatures. Seeing one coming out of one of the metallic beings, panic fills him. Was all the metallic beings filled with parasites?

As the group of parasites just keeps growing and some even runs towards him in their own panic, he onlines his laser and fires at them, his own panic turning to fear that they will be able to infect him if they reach him. Only when the last parasite is turned into a red pool of whatever the substance is, he relaxes and tentatively grabs another of the metallic beings, careful to look if any of the strange parasites lingers inside it.

This time he carefully extracts the fuel tank and drinks the fluids, and this time his system accepts it. 

Sighing, content with a full fuel tank after draining a few of the beings and the feel of the strange fuel slowly being converted into energon, Starscream gathers a couple of the beings for later, then testing his thrusters, he leaps into the air when they activates and he slowly returns to the spaceship.

Returning at the spaceship, the fuel in his tank has converted to enough energon, that his mind is clearing even more, and now that his life isn’t threatened due to low energy, he begins to wonder where the autobots are?

Calling out to his family and friends, while carrying his prey, he begins to search the spaceship to locate them.

When he takes a fleeting look into the command center he is horrified at the sight of his family and friends stacked in a pile in one corner. Not thinking, he releases the metallic beings in his servos and runs to the pile. Carefully touching some of the frames, he is greeted with no sensations of spark energy.

Whimpering, chirring out loud in distress, he slowly digs out the frame of one of his creators. Ratchet is not damaged like the rest but he is still as lifeless as the others. Cradling the white and red frame closely he murmurs to the medic, pleading for him to return to the seeker.

Breems passes and nothing happens.

Panic grows in the seeker at the thought of being all alone at this foreign planet.

Trying feverishly to wake his creator, he shakes the frame violently, slapping it and hissing in the anger growing from the fear and panic.

When he still doesn’t get any response, any sign of life, he slumps, still cradling the frame.

Then his optics falls upon the metallic beings, his prey.

Maybe Ratchet just needs fuel?

Crawling towards the discarded prey, he drags Ratchet with him. Using his slightly larger frame to steady the medic in upright position, he digs into the prey and withdraws the fuel tank. Then he supports the medic’s helm, canting it to allow the fuel from the tank held above the mouth of the CMO to pass into Ratchets fuel intakes. Doing that with the rest of the prey, he waits expectantly to see if anything happens.

Listening intently to the sounds coming from the lifeless frame, he hears the fuel begin to work inside the medic’s fuel tank. Chirring happily, he looks intensely into Ratchets optics, waiting for them to online. It takes several breems before anything further happens, but then the seeker is taken by surprise at the violent flare in Ratchet’s spark when it begins to supply and circulate the system with energy. Until then the spark had pulsed so weakly that even Starscream hadn’t been able to feel it, and the medic could as well have been presumed death to the world.

Following the flare, Ratchet jolts out of his stasis, the medic having other subroutines than the general cybertronian. Onlining his optics, blue optics looks franticly around. Then he begins to flail, feeling someone holding him.

“Ratchet. Ratchet! Creator!” Starscream voices out loud when the medic doesn’t seem to recognize him.

At the voice Ratchet stills and falls limp in his embrace.

Angst filled moments later, the medic reboots again, this time slower and not under the influence of his medical coding.

When Ratchet for the second time onlines his optics, his sight falls on the multicolored frame holding him. Seeing a blue thruster in his vision he recognizes the one holding him instantly. Canting his head, looking up into the seekers face, he sees the fear, angst and tear-filled expression of the seeker.

“Star-“ he whispers in a hoarse voice, feeling his own optics burning, threatening to spill fluids.

“Creator.” The seeker warbles, emotions affecting his voice. Lowering his head he gently nuzzles the medic’s neck, relief slowly filling him. Feeling his spark lightening as the heavy thoughts and feelings leaves him, he feels calmer.

Looking at the pile out of the medic’s vision, Starscream drags Ratchets attention to the others, and when the CMO moves in his hold and is able to see the offline frames of his comrades, Ratchet’s medical coding takes over.

Gently releasing Starscreams arms around him, he rises and begins to scan the lifeless frames for any possibility of salvation, his coding enabling him to do his duty without being affected by emotions. Yes this is his people, and yes they are heavily damaged, some maybe even beyond his capability, but he is going to do his very best to bring them back and they need for him to be clear in mind while doing so. He could always collapse from the mental strain when they had been repaired.

Ignored by the medic, with Ratchet having more pressing duty than pestering the seeker, Starscream strangles the stings of jealousy poking inside him. He wants his family back too and knows that he need to let his creator work to get that. However he can’t stop the feeling of hurt at being ignored after having suffered so great emotional strain and having the need for Ratchet to sooth his angst and fears.

Leaving the spaceship, he decides to explore this new planet, and hoping that when he returns his family would be alright and back online.

Flying east, he enjoys the blow of the wind against his plating. Compared to Cybertron this planet seems to have a different atmosphere; he feels how the thicker air affects his flight, demanding more speed to increase his altitude. He even feel how his speed is affected, not being able to fly as fast as he could on Cybertron. Pushing his systems to their limit he reaches just slightly above his usual speed going in casual flight on his home planet.

Suddenly during his flight, another seeker enters his vision ahead of him, moving towards the tricolored seeker. Wary and alert he changes course, trying to avoid it. Curiously it didn’t seem to have registered his presence since it suddenly slows down its speed drastically and enters a controlled dive towards the ground. Studying the seeker he watch as it lands on the ground and slowly rolls on it until it stops at some strange small structures on the ground. Then moments later he is surprised as another seeker strangely speeds up on the ground before it enters the air and slowly increases its altitude in a slow arch.

Seekers didn’t need to gain speed on the ground before they entered the air. Puzzled he follows the strange seeker in its flight even going as far as daring to intercept it and fly beside it, even if it went agonizing slow. The closeness to the other flier causes Starscream to feel a strange giddiness he usually only felt when he played with the twins back when he was younger. But this time a longing sensation follows the giddiness and it feels like his spark is hollow, missing something important.

Nudging the seeker in his playful giddiness when the loneliness becomes consuming, he shakes the seeker out of control and follows it as it tumbles to the ground, eager to see how effective his playmate is to regain control before he impacts with the ground.

As the ground rapidly come closer and closer and the seeker still hasn’t done anything to gain back control, Starscream become even more puzzled.

What was it with these strange seekers?

When the frame finally impacts with the ground it shatters in millions of parts and in shock Starscream just hovers above the ground, looking at the devastated frame.

He killed it!

He killed the strange seeker.

Whimpering weakly he lands gently on the ground and collects the largest part of the seeker, its cockpit. Looking at it with tear filled optics; he frowns suddenly when he sees that same red foul fluid leaving the part. Releasing the cockpit abruptly, it clatters to the ground and shatters even more than it is.

The parasites were even in the fliers.

Maybe that was why it acted so strange?

Poking at the cockpit, looking for any sign of living parasites, he finds none. Carefully he gathers the cockpit and decides to return to the spaceship. With all these parasites, Ratchet might want to know what they did to the metallic beings. They might be a danger.

While Starscream returns to the spaceship, the decepticons have used their head start to finish the spacebridge transponder and has begun to collect the energy needed to power it. Soundwave had detected the energy on this planet which easiest converted to energon to be some black sticky substance. Fortunately it was also the energy source most available, and when they returned from their raids they were all loaded with energon cubes.

It had been millennia since they last had been able to harvest so much energy this easily and this fast, and while they needed the energy and could have gathered even more from the source they had raided, Megatron had ordered them to stop when they had enough to power the transponder.

They needed to acquire access to Cybertron through the bridge, before they began to stock energon.

Still it seemed like this planet flowed with convertible energy sources. The spirit heightened at the prospect of returning to Cybertron and being able to reenergize their home planet into its former glory; it spurred them on in their efforts to get the spacebridge to work.

When the transponder finally whirred to life and the fluctuating field emerged in the circular device, they all started in awe.

Then Megatron closely followed by Soundwave stepped through it. As their leader vanished, the troops held their breath in anticipation, waiting for Megatron to return with the good news.

Emerging where they were scheduled to, Megatron looked around in Shockwaves laboratory.

After a passing glance he frowned.

Silence reigned the laboratory he remembered as filled to the brim with tinkering scientists. Now he could see no one. The light wasn’t even turned on. It was like it was abandoned.

The frown deepened as he wondered what had happened.

Then he heard Soundwave emerge from the spacebridge and silently asking the telepath to send out probes to locate any sentient life in the room, he waited for Soundwave to report.

The telepath canted his helm, feeling the whole room and searching for the presence of anything in their surroundings. After a few kliks he dipped his helm slightly towards the darker parts of the laboratory. Without saying anything Soundwave silently walked further into the room, behind him Megatron followed, his fusion cannon onlined but not charged yet.

Ending before a reinforced door Soundwave pointed at it and keyed it to open. As the door swooshed open, Megatron couldn’t help charging his cannon to be ready to fire, just in case. The eerie silence was growing on him and he had a bad feeling.

The door revealed a storage closet to the two decepticons. Looking into the pitch black, nothing jumped at them. After a few tense kliks Soundwave found the light and turned it on. When the light filled the room the lone occupant screamed in fear and stumbled further back from where it had been hiding among the crates.

Recognizing the paintjob of Shockwaves second assistant, Megatron offlined his cannon and stepped in front of the telepath to address the other mech. As the decepticon leader came closer, the green and red mech tried to shy further away.

“What happened here?” he asks the scientist.

Only weak whimpers left the scientist and Megatron was getting annoyed by the sniveling mech. Decepticons was merciless, skilled warriors not afraid of anything. This display of weakness didn’t fit one under his rule.

Seizing the scientist by the throat, Megatron shook the mech violently, while growling in anger.

“What happened?!” he practically roars into the others audio receptors.

“Please, don’t yell. Don’t say anything. They will hear us. They will hunt for us. They won’t stop before they kill us.” The scientist pleads as much as the hold allows him to breath.

Then the scientist suddenly went completely rigid in his hold and began to trash. Unable to hold the wriggling mech Megatron let go and the green and red mech fell to the ground where he curled up, rocking while repeating the same sentence again and again:

“They are coming. They are coming. They are coming.” He said in a hushed whisper.

When the sentence had been repeated those three times, the silence reigned the laboratory again before a ground shaking boom sounded above, outside the basement the laboratory was located in.

Frowning at the sound, Megatron glanced towards Soundwave. They shouldn’t have been able to hear anything down there from the large building reaching several levels above the basement itself.

‘What on Cybertron had happened?’ he wondered.

More booms were heard during the following breems and several ground shattering shakes shook the laboratory as something heavy hit the ground after each of the loud sounding booms.

“They search for our energy signatures. They hunt us. We are doomed. Primus has forsaken us.” The assistant whispered to them when no sound had been heard for almost half a cycle.  
Having had enough of not knowing what was happening to his Cybertron, Megatron strode purposefully towards the exit of the laboratory.

Behind him the scientist yelled for him to get back, to not go out there. Telling him that it would be his death, but Megatron ignored it.

Slamming the heavy doors of the laboratory open he looked out at the surroundings.

Before they left Cybertron to hunt the autobots, Shockwaves laboratory had been placed in the decepticon headquarters; several large buildings clustered together in the middle of Kaon. Around the headquarters the city state had showed several even larger buildings.

Now, when Megatron opened the doors, he didn’t see the large corridors leading to the other areas of the headquarters, instead he looked up into the clear sky.

Stunned, his mind fought to process what he was seeing with what he had expected to see.

Then when he was able to move after the initial shock had left his frame, he turned and went to where the scientist had fled to in the laboratory.

“Who has done this?! Who have leveled Kaon?” he asked, shaking the green and red frame violently.

“Seekers.” The scientist spluttered.

When the decepticon leader released him, the mech composed himself before he continued.

“They just changed after you left. They aided us in the following thousand vorns, but when their prescheduled orders ran out they no longer came. Then when the remaining autobots hid deeper and deeper inside the planet, the seekers turned on us. Sir, we couldn’t control them without you here.” The scientist continued in a pleading tone to receive some understanding from his leader.

Shuddering, the green and red mech replayed the events the very first time the seekers attacked them.

It was thousand vorns after their leader went missing together with his elite troops. The orn had been like any previous. The laboratory had flourished with life and mechs devoted to their field, science. Shockwave had gone out and left him in control.

Consumed by their work, no one had heard the first signs of the attack. Being that far underground, beneath the large building, the sound from outside didn’t reach down into the laboratory. It was only when Shockwave or any of the expected deliveries didn’t turn up that they began to wonder what had happened. Shockwave was strict and precise.

When he had decided to investigate, he was faced with the chaos in the city state. People were screaming about the seekers, and panic was everywhere.

It hadn’t been so much of an attack, since the seekers just had plucked their unsuspecting prey from the streets and taken to the air, out of reach before any defense against them had even been activated.

This scenario continued, with the seekers just diving and taking their prey, until no one dared to move around outside.

Hiding in the buildings, they had thought themselves safe from the seekers. But then the seekers began to dig them out of their homes in those buildings, demolishing the large structures with scary delicacy, hunting for their prey. After that, no one was safe, and people fought to gain access to basements and other underground structures, mirroring the autobots in their hiding.

When the decepticons stopped hiding in their buildings, the seekers turned more viciously. Used to dig out their prey from the dens in the forest ground, they began to utilize that special skill.

It was painful for the decepticons to learn that hiding underground wasn’t enough to avoid the seekers. 

Unlike the autobots, they had little experience with remaining stealthy, and the seekers found their signals too easy in the time following the abandoning of the surface. They had soon realized, as more and more of their hiding spots underground was compromised that they fought a losing battle against the seekers for survival, and the joy they had felt while watching a true predator hunt its prey as they had when that prey had been autobots turned to angst and fear for their former allies. The seekers had become their own nightmare, and as vorns passed, the twenty-five million decepticons that had lived when Megatron went missing dwindled to just above 600.000. Spread all over the planet the decepticons hid in small underground camps, fighting for their survival. The few scientists that had survived the attacks were highly favored, since they now and then came up with ideas and inventions to ensure energy supply, stealthy protection, and a rare weapon.

When they decided to go underground, they had abandoned the life on the surface of the planet completely. Only during the night cycle did they dare to move out for a short moment to gather with the other groups in the area. They had learned that the seekers never flew in the sky during the dark cycles. It was the only moments where they could relax a bit and use the small amounts of power they still controlled in the ruined buildings. The laboratory, while not ruined held importance to the groups in Kaon. It was still connected to the old power grid surging through the underground of the city state and which had supplied the city with energy to power their machines during the time before the seekers began to hunt them. That connection made it quite stable to work inside and there were always one scientist or one with the interest on duty inside it.

That was why the laboratory wasn’t abandoned completely and why Megatron was able to use the spacebridge receiver. If the laboratory had been destroyed like the rest of the planet, he would have been stranded on the foreign planet with the autobots.

As Megatron listened to what the scientist told him, a deep frown grew and he fought to urge to rub his temples. What a mess.

With determination he turned to Soundwave when the scientist finished his explanation.

“I want a group of my troops here in a cycle, armed with sedation guns and ready to take down a group of seekers. It is time we retake control of our planet. Before you go, send following orders to the mind controller.” With that he voiced out the order for Soundwave to pass on to Thundercracker.

Soundwave placed himself before the working monitors in the laboratory and began to type into the mind controller. When it was confirmed that it still worked he passed on the orders and activated them. Then he stood and went to the spacebridge and was gone a klik later.

When the communications officer had left, Megatron turned to the scientist again.

“Lead me to you camp. We got preparations to do.” The decepticon leader ordered.

With a tentative nod the scientist led him out of the laboratory. Before exiting the room he handed Megatron a scrambler and activated one of his own.

“For protection, in case a patrolling flight of seekers pass. It isn’t much, but they work. Unfortunately we don’t have enough to protect everyone from detection.” He explained seeing the frown on Megatrons face.

Studying the little device clearly made from materials they had been able to scavenge, he activated it and placed it on the plating protecting his sparkchamber, mirroring the scientist.

Then he followed the green and red mech in a maze of hiding to get to where the camp was located. There he would wait for Soundwave to report to him, while getting more knowledge about what had happened while he had been away.


	25. Chapter 25

Cybertron:

While Megatron made his way to the camp, and Soundwave prepared their troops on the foreign planet, the attacking seekers returned to their clans. Out of the strike force of hundred trines setting out to gather fuel, twelve landed in the Swiftstrike clan. Among them were Crossfire and as he landed he dismissed his trinemates before he went to report to the Winglord.

While doing so he hoped to get a glimpse of the newest of the Winglord’s creations. Skywarp protects his off spring viciously and only lets Thundercracker come near him after a birthing, so the clan had yet to see any trace of the little one, beyond what they had glimpsed when Thundercracker held the seekerling in his servos after the birthing. All they knew was that the seekerling was healthy and that the bond had taken between the creation and creators.

As he walked through the resting area he passed a seeker covered in all shades of red. The Winglords first creation was a sight to admire. At an age of 8.000 vorns the seeker was no youngster anymore, neither was his frame. It had been clear in the early stages of his growth that Spitfire would favor Thundercrackers strength and size. And no one doubted that Spitfire would be able to take down his creator, if the younger seeker ever wanted the position as Winglord.

He was just like any common dominant competitive and didn’t waste time challenging others when he finally matured. Before long he held a high position in their society, not just earned by his heritage, but by skill, strength and cunning.

But even if he had the ability to kill his creator, the thought might never enter his mind.

Compared to ‘Swiftstrike’, Thundercracker had been a caring creator, and hadn’t distanced himself from the young dominant. Spitfire had been so wanted that the Winglord held nothing back when he finally held his creation in his own claws and their bond formed. Now as a mature seeker the feelings still lingered among creator and creation, and Thundercracker taught Spitfire everything he could to strengthen the younger seeker.

Seeing Skywarp lying curled in a ball at the Winglords resting area, Crossfire slowed down his advance, knowing very well how Skywarp tended to react to any dominant not being the Winglord. Thundercracker was nowhere in sight, so he decided to be cautious.

/Skywarp, Winglord second./ he greeted, wings lowered on his back, showing no threat to the carrier.

Uncurling, Skywarp turned where he laid, a servo gently protecting his cockpit until he identified the addresser. As the submissive turned, some of the older creations became visible and while some of the older seekerlings complained about the shift in temperature, the seekerlets curiously stared at the dominant.

/Crossfire./ Skywarp greeted, the submissive visibly relaxing and the servo withdrawing from the cockpit. Through the glass of the cockpit the dominant could just see the outline of a small moving frame. Catching himself in staring too blatantly, he forced his optics away and to meet Skywarps. The submissive smiled knowingly to him, the fangs just visible in a silent threat and Crossfire bowed his helm in apology.

/Thundercracker is just stretching his wings with some of our younglings. He will be back soon./ Skywarp explained, guessing why he was there.

Motioning for the dominant to come closer, Crossfire carefully walked towards the resting submissive and sat down close by. Not a klik later the seekerlets were all over him, exploring the dominant. With a hiss Skywarp defused most of their eagerness and they left Crossfire alone again. Instead they began to brawl with each other when one accidently swiped his tail into the face of another. The group of five seekerlets tumbled around and playfully fought with each other, ignoring their surroundings.

Infighting in the small group had already started and if Starscream at this stage had had any siblings, Ratchet would have seen something similar happening. The fights were to determine their rank in the group, and the right to refuel first before the others. The seekerlets learned to fight for their positions this early. It was something that would help them when they later would need to fight for their position in the seeker society, whether they favored dominant or submissive coding.

This was why Skywarp didn’t break up the group. Only if they became too violent would the carrier stop them. They were still too young to fight to maim one another or even fight to the death. The concept was too complex for them yet to understand, even if their basic seeker coding pushed them.

Then when the well-known sound of Thundercracker was heard in the air, they all stopped in their movements, eagerly waiting for their creator to arrive. When Thundercracker moments later walked towards their resting area they wasted no time in launching themselves in the air only to land on the Winglord and find their spots on the large blue frame.

An amused trill left the Winglord when he was covered in seekerlets, their tails restraining his neck and around his arms to stay on him as he walked.

Chirrs answered his trill and they nuzzled into his plating.

When Thundercracker sat down beside Skywarp and drew his mate into his embrace, Crossfire stood and distances himself a bit from the happy group. It was hard to forget the ruthlessness Thundercracker had used to lash out with when his mind wasn’t right, and it was always better to be safe.

After nuzzling Skywarp a bit Thundercracker finally acknowledged the presence of the other dominant.

/Winglord./ Crossfire lowered his helm and dipped his wings in submission.

/How was the hunt?/ Thundercracker asked. Crossfire had led the group, which was why he was to report to the Winglord.

Hissing, Crossfire let his annoyance show.

/They have dug themselves further underground. They have learned just like the others. But we were able to find one of their dens. Toppled large crude structures on top of it and they scattered from their holes./ At the last words the dominant sounded quite pleased.

/Grounders are like small prey. They scare easily./ Thundercracker snorted, referring to the behavior among petro rabbits.

Nodding in agreement, Crossfire turned to walk away. He had done what he had come for, to let Thundercracker know how well it went.

However, Skywarp let out a questioning sound and he turned to see what the submissive wanted.  
/Could you take out Skyflare, Shadowfire, Windcatcher, Starlight and Thunderwing to hunt?/ Skywarp asked, pointing to the seekerlets refusing to let go of their creator.

Looking at the seekerlets, he found them staring at him intently. Hunting with seekerlets were always fun. Instead of going for grounders, they went for their usual prey, the rabbits. When he nodded, the five seekerlets charged him, settling on him just like they had on Thundercracker. Feeling the tails tighten on his frame, he trilled out a ready?

Then he left the creators to whatever Skywarp wanted to do with Thundercracker without their most lively creations around. With one last glance at the pair, he saw how Thundercracker gently nuzzled Skywarps cockpit before he went for the black wings. Seeing Skywarp throw his helm back in what could only be a pleasurable moan, he smiled and hurried to leave the resting area. Seekerlets could be very curious and they didn’t need to know that part of life yet.

Reaching the depth of the forest, he let the five seekerlets loose in their individual hunts. Thunderwing was fast to leave the group to go hunt on his own, while the rest stayed close by each other to study their surroundings. The blue and white seekerlet was the oldest and most skilled. However, he wasn’t the strongest among them, which was Shadowfire. The pitch black seekerlet ruled their group rather ruthlessly and kept them in line whenever the rest did something that he didn’t like. Keeping their youngest close to him, the black seeker began to dig into the ground with his talons, sniffing to the scents covering the underbrush.

Crossfire had already detected several rabbits in the ground and knew where they were precisely, but he let the seekerlets try to find their prey on their own. They needed to learn the different scents connected to their prey and locate it by the tracks left on the surface, until their sensitive sensors onlined later in their development and allowed for them to sense the energy signatures coming from the rabbits or foxes they would hunt until they matured and was able to hunt grounders like their creators.

A loud spectacle sounded further away from where he lay and relaxed. Feeling the presence of the five small seekers around him he knew that it was Thunderwing who had been rewarded. He would have been surprised if the oldest of them didn’t manage to track down one of the entrances to a petro rabbit den and down a rabbit. The critters weren’t dangerous to the seekerlets, just hard to down. Speed and a better sight while under the ground favored the critters when the seekerlets finally managed to track down an entrance and go underground to get hold of their prey.

Rising from the ground and looking for the blue and white seekerlet he only had to wait few breems before the little seeker came out from a bush and proudly chewed on the chest piece of a rabbit. The fuel dripped from the carcass and smeared itself all over the seekerlet, making it look purpler than white. Yellow optics shone and with a purr Thunderwing settled beside the dominant, ignoring the stares from the other four seekerlets. His success spurred the others on. Soon they all held parts of their prey in their small servos and chewed happily. Shadowfire had, even if he dominated the group and fought his siblings for the fuel presented to them from their creators, allowed Starlight parts of his own prey. The youngest still had a lot to learn, but had watched intensely as Shadowfire had down the rabbit. He had waited for the black seekerlet to choose his part of the prey before he tentatively moved for the rabbit after a certain flicker of a wing from the older seekerlet. When Shadowfire didn’t growl at him as he advances in on the downed prey, his shimmering light wings had relaxed and he had attacked the carcass with joy.  
Sated, both in frame and mind from their explorations and hunt, the five settled on the dominant again and curled into his warmth. Purring content they all fell into recharge as one, their tails keeping them on the larger frame as their small frames went slack.

Wondering if Skywarp and Thundercracker would be done with their private time, he prodded his bond with his trinemates to ask them to investigate. He might have to return the small ones soon, knowing that the pair rarely let them out of sight for long. Skywarp might have asked him to take the five seekerlets away, but he expected them to be returned the instant he was done with the Winglord. When he felt smugness enter the bond, he knew that he still had time. At the same time he wondered what had made his trinemates that smug. He would have to ask them when he returned, he felt that no matter what it was, he would probably need to be far away from the curious glance of the seekerlets.

Settling contently on the ground with the small frames still clinging to him, he entered a light recharge, with his wing sensors on alert to any proximity movements. There might not be anything which could threaten a seeker in the forest, but he still needed to keep track of the seekerlets. It wouldn’t do to have them vanish on him in his recharge. That would be really careless and if it ever happened, Skywarp would do worse to him than even Thundercracker would be able to. The wrath of a carrier was to be feared.

When he a cycle later got a ping from his trinemates, he knew he needed to get back to the camp. Rising to his thrusters he engaged them and flew slowly towards the clan. Landing not far from the resting area he went to pass the five seekerlets back to their creators.

But when he came to the resting area of the Winglord, he sensed disturbances in the air, and feeling a threat his wings rose on his back as he made his way further towards his destination. Sensing the ire in the dominant, the seekerlets tightened their hold on his frame and curled into nook and crannies in his plating to hide.

Seeing the frame of Skywarp first, he relaxed when the submissive was undamaged. Then he saw Thundercracker. The Winglord sported several large gashes down his chest, the black paint transfer clearly Skywarps. Frowning he slowed down in his walk, not wanting to get in between the two if they were fighting. Looking around he couldn’t see the seekerlings anywhere.

Sensing his approach Thundercracker turned to him, and Crossfire couldn’t stop the retreating step he took away from the Winglord at the sight of the red optics. A growl left Thundercracker when he saw Crossfire retreating. It was clear that the Winglord was displeased by the visible fear of him. At that Skywarp turned to face him and the yellow optics was clearly angered, but at Thundercracker, not Crossfire.

It was Skywarp who addressed him first, and silently Crossfire was filled with relief, since he didn’t know what he would have done if Thundercracker had been the one to speak first. The trust among the seekers towards their Winglord was healing from grave wounds done to them through the many vorns with his insanity, and they had learned that the red optics usually predicted an increasingly unstable Winglord for some time following.

With the return of the red optics, Crossfire felt fear growing in his spark. Was the insanity returning?

When he registered Skywarps words, he frowned. Thundercracker had ordered a strike force of their most elite seekers to join him on a trip to one of the old and long abandoned grounder clans? AND he demanded that Skywarp joined him?! The submissive, which had just birthed his latest creation just five orns ago?! What was he thinking? It was unheard. And who was going to take care of their other creations that were too young to stay alone in the clan?  
Shaking his helm, he watched as Skywarp in his anger slashed Thundercracker again, wounding the left wing. Wincing at the attack, he waited for the Winglord to retaliate, but Thundercracker didn’t…

Instead Thundercracker made it a final order by attaching his glyph to it, one Skywarp couldn’t deny, and with a sigh he watched as Skywarp slumped, his anger evaporating and his wings lowering submissively.

Feeling the five seekerlets tremble in their hiding on his frame, he asked what they would do with their creations when they both left. He knew that the seekerlets would be fine in the care of any seeker, but the seekerlings needed special care. The care of the just five orns old seekerling couldn’t be placed on anyone; it still needed Skywarp and would have to join his creators on the trip. The thought of it made his spark uneasy.

As an answer Thundercracker motioned a trine forward from where they had waited. Among them, one of the submissives carried his own batch of creations.

/Nightsky’s trine is going to take care of our seekerlings, while the seekerlets will be nourished by Shadowblaze and his trine. They will be cared for by them until we return. It won’t take long./ the Winglord proclaimed, dismissing Crossfire as a sign that their discussion was over. With a sigh he nodded and went to prepare his trinemates. He was among the elite and would be joining the Winglord and his mate on this trip.

A few cycles later a group of forty seekers took to the air and left the Swiftstrike clan, headed for the abandoned grounder clan. What they were to do there, they didn’t know, but had to trust in their Winglord. Uneasiness filled Crossfire when he sensed the presence of the little seekerling inside Skywarp as his trine took up position behind their leading pair. If anything happened, the little one would be facing death, he was certain.

Less than a cycle later, they entered the airspace of the grounder clan. Crossfires uneasiness had grown through their flight, and he kept glancing towards Skywarp. His frame was primed and ready to protect the submissive carrier if anything was to transpire which might threaten Skywarp and his young. Beside the black and purple frame, Thundercracker carried on, ignoring the group following him. It seemed like the Winglord was lost in his own mind. It was something that worried Crossfire and made him even tenser in their flight. If Thundercracker wasn’t ready to react to any threat, he himself was the only first defense of their group, and with Skywarp in the front, the submissive was a clear target.

Trying to ease the worry in his spark, he recycled power to his internal weapons and intensified the sensor range in his wings. It was an energy consuming process, but his instincts screamed at him for some reason.

Down below, more than twenty feet below the surface of the planet, Megatron had received the signal of the seekers in the air. Half a cycle prior, Soundwave had reported to him that he had just passed through the spacebridge with the requested troops and everyone was armed for heavy fight and ready to take down a group of seekers. Pleased with the telepath he had provided his troops with the coordinates of the camp he had reached and they had gathered there to plot.

Now the troops had been fitted with every scrambler found in the camp and were spread out around the area Megatron had logged in the mind controller for the seekers to pass. In the middle of that area, he and Soundwave stood, unprotected and visible for detection by the seekers. He was confident that his troops would take out the seekers even before they reached where he stood.

Looking to the sky as the sound of jet engines grew louder and louder, he gave his final order for his troops to engage the seekers whenever they got them within range.

When the seekers were close enough for him to see them, an evil smirk formed on his lips and he watched with sadistic satisfaction when the first seeker was downed by his troops, unconscious from the sedation. The attack scattered the seekers wildly and he laughed soundly.

Oh, how the mighty falls, he thought amused.

As his troops opened fire on the scattered group, more frames fell to the ground and the impacts could be felt like tremors all the way to where he stood.

A breem later only a few frames were airborne, deftly enough to avoid the fire shot at them. Among them he could recognize the blue leader and his mate. Then one of his troops got lucky, and the large blue seeker roared out his anger as the sedation forced his systems into stasis. As the large blue frame fell to the ground, Megatron could see the black and purple seeker was conflicted, just circling the area above its mate, not diving for his mate, yet not fleeing either.

A roar from one of the seekers still in the air however seemed to shake the black and purple seeker out of its reverie, and while the other intercepted a shot aimed at the black and purple seeker, it finally fled the area, leaving its mate and the rest of the seekers behind on the ground.

An angry growl left Megatron at the sight.

He wanted the black and purple seeker together with its mate when he took the downed seekers with him to the new planet. Having their leader taken away, he was sure the seekers would be less dangerous on Cybertron, and with the group of seekers aiding him on the new planet, he was sure to conquer it easily.

The few raids performed had showed him how weak, but rather deft in handling their weaknesses the organic inhabitants of the new planet were. Even if their small organic forms were useless in the fight against the decepticons, they compensated for their weaknesses by the use of machinery. Machinery which had turned out to be weaponry not able to rival the cybertronians own, but still able to wound and kill them. And even if the weapons turned against them needed large amounts of ammunition to penetrate and kill, he still hadn’t that large a strike force. The decepticons had their size and strength against the organics, but the organics that their numbers against their foes.

If the seekers joined him, the organics could do nothing against him. The seekers were hard to kill even for the decepticons with their advanced weapons. What could a pathetic bunch of organics do to them with their lesser weapons if the mighty decepticons hardly could wound or even kill a seeker?

As his troops reported the black and purple seeker out of their range, another angry growl left Megatron. Then he withdrew the remote from his subspace and pressed the first button.

In the distance the frame in the air jerked before it fell from the sky, paralyzed by the collar fitted around its neck.

Panic hit Skywarp as he felt his frame go numb and his systems unresponsive. Then he watched at the ground came closer and closer. In his cockpit the seekerling stirred at the sensations of fear bleeding to it through the bond and Skywarp felt confusion from his youngest creation. Kliks passed and then he hit the ground, the impact throwing him into stasis from several damage reports in his HUD. Among them he just managed to register the cracked cockpit glass before everything went black.

Earth:

When Starscream had returned to the crashed spaceship, he was greeted by a pleased sight. While he had been out, Ratchet had managed to repair Firstaid and Optimus enough that the mechs had come online. Aiding the CMO in working on their still offline comrades, Firstaid was servos deep in the internals of Sideswipe when Starscream entered. Optimus was occupied with voicing orders to Teletran to get any knowledge of where the decepticons had vanished off to.

Carrying the dripping cockpit of the strange seeker, he walked slowly towards Ratchet and placed a servo gently on the medic’s shoulder to get his attention. Ratchet was working on Sunstreaker, but compared to Sideswipe, the golden frontliner didn’t suffer from severe internal damages.

When his creator turned, Starscream could practically see the curse Ratchet was about to throw at him, before he saw who it was. Optimus had pestered him ever since he had onlined and the CMO was kind of tired of having to tell the Prime that his troops would be online when they managed the repair and the mechs awoke by themselves.

“What is it Starscream?” he asked.

“Got this for you.” The seeker explained and held the cockpit towards the medic.

When Ratchet just stared at it and didn’t move to take it, Starscream elaborated.

“It is part of a seeker on this planet. This crude red stuff comes from parasites that seem to have infected every machine on this planet. I just wanted you to know of it, in case they are able to infect us.” He continued, uncertainty filling his voice.

At that Ratchet took the part and turned it around in his servos, studying it and scanning it.

“Oh, Starscream.” He began after his scan confirmed his suspicions. “This isn’t like us. This machine is lifeless and the ‘parasites’ is organics. Living beings who have made this.” He explained to the empty look on Starscream.

“Are they alive like me? Like having a spark and such? Have I killed something alive like myself?” he asked pain evident in his voice at the facts.

Placing the cockpit on the floor, Ratchet gently reached up to cup Starscreams cheek and nuzzled it to sooth the worry in the yellow optics.

“You didn’t know. It isn’t like you did it in cold energon. You still have a lot to learn about the universe. One is that other life forms not resembling our own exists.” Ratchet soothed.

“As long as you don’t kill anyone now that you know, everything is going to be okay.” The medic added.

With wings trembling in distress, he left Ratchet and walked to where Optimus stood. His wings slumped low on his back and he rather carelessly of the appendages flopped into a seat in front of the main computer.  
Looking up, he watched as Optimus went through map after map of the planet to search for their enemies. 

They were sure the decepticons were still on this planet. After altering a download from wireless transmissions easily hacked into, Optimus had begun to understand the language of the organics. Shifting through the several yottabytes of information transmitted through the wireless net through all time, the Prime had learned that the most common language was English, and he had begun to form a language pack to ping his mechs when they woke. The work of composing it didn’t take much from his task at servo and was doable while he learned more and more of this new planet and their inhabitants. While surfing through the information he had come across some vague references that seemed useful and might have been related to decepticon activity. Following those tracks, he searched the areas connected to the information and tried to scour out Megatron from where he was hiding.

As he relaxed while studying the Prime, Starscreams systems slowly began to cycle down. He had been active ever since his wakening from stasis and his systems felt the strain of the stress he had been put under during the cycles he had been online. Now the strain had depleted his energy to the point where he simply entered recharge.

Optimus vaguely registered as the seekers systems slowed down, and decided to let Starscream stay where he was. This whole situation was something that taxed on their systems and Optimus felt how his own frame still needed time to regain its usual energy levels. The Prime had been shocked to learn that 12.000 vorns had passed since their departure from Cybertron and that they had been in a strange stasis all that time, lying dormant. He had known of mechs able to survive damages for a long period of time when the systems offlined and only allowed the spark to be energized enough so it didn’t extinguish, but to his knowledge no one had survived more than a few thousand vorns in that state. That they had survived 12.000 vorns was unheard of, and he was sure there was someone playing them. In his chest, the Matrix pulsed soothingly and he returned to the task at hand.

Immersed in the task of locating the decepticons, cycles passed. During that time the medics had repaired the twins and a few of the others. Just as Sideswipe opened his optics Teletran blared klaxons in alert and the loud noise woke Starscream who jolted in his seat. Looking bewildered around, his optics fell on the large screen and Teletran showing a diagram of what had activated the klaxons.

A large energy spike had occurred only thirty miles away from the spaceship.

Optimus was tapping at the keypad and deftly hacked into one of the satellites traveling the space around the planet to get a visual.

On the screen an image of the area showed, and in the middle they saw the spacebridge. It was hard to miss the large structure standing in the middle of nowhere. Around the device the remaining decepticons was busy building a base.

It wasn’t worrying to the Prime that the decepticons was busy building; with a base he would know where they were. No, what worried him was the fact that the circular device in the center of it all seemed active and was glowing with a fluctuating light.

The purpose of the device was revealed to him when another klaxon sounded as another energy spike registered and he watched as the fluctuating light was broken by frames exiting the device. The autobots didn’t know of the spacebridge project the decepticons had worked on, but before his optics Optimus realized what it was he looked at when the first frames passing through the device was two ground bound decepticons and a seeker.

The seeker was clearly in stasis, carried between the two decepticons.

Beside him he heard a faint whimper, and when he turned to the sound, he saw Starscream watch the proceedings on the screen intently. The seeker clicked its vocalizer in distress at the sight of the seeker and Optimus for once had trouble reading if Starscream was concerned for the seeker or distressed by the danger the seekers presence on this new planet would be. The Prime was worried by the implications of Megatron adding the seekers to his force on this planet. It would make it all harder for them to survive and return to Cybertron. And it was troubling to know that Megatron had such an easy way to return and wreak havoc on their home planet while the autobot command was stuck far away.

As the decepticons continued carrying seekers through the device the distress in the tricolored seeker grew until he snapped at the sight of the large blue seeker being carried through. Before Optimus could say anything, Starscream had left the room and Teletran informed him that the seeker was airborne a klik later.

Starscream didn’t understand what was happening to him. Somehow the sight of the seekers affected him in a way he hadn’t expected. Was it the sight of their sudden vulnerability? Or was it his coding finally affecting him?

Landing in a green area, he sat down and vented heavily. Relaxing against the trees around him, he groaned when his processor began to ache. An angry growl followed as he cursed the seekers and his own coding for plaguing him like this. Venting loudly he offlined his optics and tried to gain some calm in his mind. At the moment his processor was spinning faster than he had ever experienced before, prompting him to do something, but something what?

Distressed and lost in his thoughts he didn’t register when one of the machines Ratchet had told him the organics build stopped only a few hundred ft. from where he rested.

When the doors in the car slammed after the organics had left their vehicle, the sound snapped Starscream out of his thoughts and looking around he soon saw the flashy colors of the machine. Crouching low to hide his frame he looked intently at the two organics leaning against the metal of the machine.

Curious he let his optics roam the small frames.

At the car, chief seismologist Sarah Wethersworth and her friend and colleague Margaret Sorach was discussing the recent events around Mount St. Helens and the impact it might have on their knowledge of strato volcanoes. Unaware of the hidden onlooker, the brown haired chief seismologist went to the back of their pickup truck to gather some of their equipment. With the eruption every sensor on the volcano had simply been destroyed or fried at the explosive eruption. The equipment was designed to handle some heat and destruction, but the violence showed by the volcano had been too much. They needed new equipment to get readings and the best spot at the moment were where they were on the calmer side of the volcano, while the large streams of lava flowed down the other side.

As the only civilians the two females had been let into the area unescorted. They were skilled in their field and knew the sign for when they needed to retreat to safer ground. An active volcano recently erupted wasn’t that dangerous. Seismologists were like storm hunters; they lived for their field and accepted the risks.

While they unloaded the car, Starscream studied them closely. Scenting silently he drew the smell of the two organics to him. What met his chemical receptors was a wash of pleasing scents and before he could stop himself he had let out a little trill.

The two organics stopped in their actions and looked around listening to their surroundings. Retreating a bit from where he was he tried to move as silent as possible. But branches on the ground were against him. Taking a tentative step back a loud crack sounded from under one of his thrusters.

Instantly the organics located the sound. Seeing them looking straight at where he hid, he tried to become smaller and hid between what protection the trees provided him, which wasn’t much.

When the brown haired one began to walk towards him, he fought against the panic wanting to claim him.

His coding insisted on him to kill the being, while he heard Ratchets words in his mind.

Confused by the contradicting prompts filling him he was torn between fleeing and fighting. 

Then the organic let out a sound and it took a bit before Starscream realized he had been spotted. After all his red blue and white color stood out from his surroundings just like their machine did. Whimpering, he retreated a bit.

To his surprise the organic followed him in his retreat, unafraid.

Fate would that this was when his panic consumed him and he moved without thinking. The following erratic movements away from the organic led him to stumble on a formation of large granite rocks and he dented one of his delicate thrusters.

Yelping out a startled scream he found himself sitting on the ground, a servo cradling the hurting part.

The sound alerted the other organic and he could hear them voice out sounds. He was sure they were calling to each other.

Tense, with wings held high on his back he looked intently at the spot where he was sure they would emerge.

These two confused him. The previous organics had been caught in panics at the sight of him, trying to get away. These were like hunting him. It was a strange feeling, being prey. He was quite sure their purpose wasn’t to eat him, but then what was their purpose?

He had just wanted to be alone in his misery. Alone to understand what was affecting him at the sight of his kin brought to this planet.

An involuntary whine left his vocalizer as he recalled the sight of the large blue seeker looking that vulnerable while the decepticons carried it. It was wrong. He felt it in the core of his spark.

Shaking his helm, returning his mind on the present he saw the organic emerge right where he had predicted. Hitching a breath he waited for what it was going to do.

Silence filled the little clearing in the trees when human and seeker looked at each other. Starscream with slightly drooping wings even while he tried to hold onto his threatening display, Sarah greatly bemused at the sight before her.

Awestruck she followed the large wings on the back of the metallic being.

While she watched, the wings began to tremble and twitch now and then. The look of the being caused strange feelings to emerge inside her. Instead of fear of a being so much taller and clearly alien, she felt the need to sooth the look in the yellow orbs she guessed was its eyes.

When she took a step forward, Starscream jerked, trying to move away. Stopping at the sight she sat down instead of coming closer not wanting to scare it.

Canting his helm as the organic sat down; he took a fleeting look around while returning his optics to the organic now and then.

This was when Margaret decided to join them. Stepping out from the trees she looked at Sarah first, before her eyes found Starscream.

“Oh my god.” She whispered, taking a fearful step back.

“Shhh. Come here. Sit down. It is frightened.” Sarah told her colleague.

Looking at her friend like she had lost her mind, Margaret just stood there a moment before she with a sigh did as Sarah had told her. Moving to sit beside Sarah, the two women took a closer look at the metallic being.

“What do you think it is?” the Margaret asked, curling strands of her blond hair behind her ears.

“Don’t know. Something alien, as in alien to Earth, definitely. Looks a lot like a bird, wings and all, but see its eyes. I am certain it is intelligent, maybe even sentient. Wonder what it is doing here…” Sarah mused as reply.

“Hmm. You are right, there is a glow to them, and it is like-.” Margaret was stopping midsentence when Starscream made a sudden movement towards them.

Almost groveling before the two organics, Starscream inched closer while on his knees, trying to seem smaller as he advanced in on the two smaller frames not far from him. When close enough, he let out an unconscious chirr and tentatively reached a servo towards them.

As the large appendage with its fierce claws came towards them, Sarah and Margaret felt their resolve waver and they inched away from the servo. Flinching when the being made a sudden move with the arm towards them they took some large steps back to regain the lost space.

Stopping, Starscream was sure he had spooked them enough for them to flee, but to his delight they just remained where they were after their flinch at his, he had to admit rather impulsive movement towards them. He had wanted to touch, to feel how the organics felt. But it was clear that even if they didn’t flee they were cautious.

Trying to look less threatening when approaching them, he turned his servo palm up instead of reaching at them with his claws. Lowering the servo to the ground and relaxing his claws he hoped it looked like a careful invitation for the organics to board it as he intended, and prayed that they would take the chance. He would not force them. He might kill them if so, and then he would be sad and Ratchet would be mad.

Chirring encouragingly to them he urged them to move.

“Oh. Oh. See. I knew it was intelligent.” Sarah said as she watched the being change its approach. The lowered arm was a clear invitation, and not one afraid of new adventures she slowly rose from the ground. Behind her Margaret just stayed there. The blonde was a lot more cautious in nature and a large metallic being was too much for her.

Taking the few steps towards the offered servo, she hesitated only a second before stepping onto it. 

A happy sound left the seeker when the organic took his invitation, and when Sarah was secure in the palm of his servo, he withdrew it from the ground, raising it slowly to his optic level.

While the servo ascended into the air, Sarah knelt in the palm, fascinated by the warmth coming from the plating surrounding her. Touching her fingers to it she sensed the working structure covered by the plating and the pulsing warmth coming from it. It felt so good she was almost tempted to curl into a ball there and enjoy the sensations filling her body. But as she was about to give in to the urge, the servo came into optic level with Starscream and she found herself being scrutinized under the intense yellow orbs.

Uncertainty filled her under the heavy gaze upon her, and she felt she had to say something. Until now there had been no conversation. But what did you say to an alien metallic being? Would it understand her? And now that she thought about it, was it an It, a she or a he?

To her chagrin her mind only came up with an embarrassing “Hey.” When facing those large orbs. It was like drowning in the sun she thought absentmindedly before she shook herself out of the fascination and returned to reality; a reality which seemed more and more like a dream than anything else.

Feeling the softness of the organic against his plating, Starscream watched Sarah just as fascinated as the human was with the seeker. And it was warm too. He sensed the pulsing from inside the organics frame when he had it this close. Ratchet had been right; they were like him, just so small and delicate. When it said something, just one simple sound he felt his spark swell with joy. It still wasn’t afraid of him.

Silence grew between the woman and the seeker, Sarah still fighting to come up with something to say, and Starscream just content at sensing the smaller frame and its pulsing.

It was Margaret down below who interrupted their moment of silence, yelling up at her friend that their colleagues were waiting for them to finish their task. With a sigh Sarah knew that her friend was right. Pointing towards the ground she hoped the being understood that she wanted to be let down again.

Interpreting the motion, Starscream understood, and reluctantly lowered his servo again and allowed the organic to leave. He watched at the two left the little clearing they had ended up in, and after a few kliks he decided to follow.

The following cycle passed with the seeker intently watching the two organics unload the machine they had arrived in and began to walk towards the volcano. Meanwhile the two women discussed their work, managing to ignore their large stalker, like the seeker was nothing new.

Consumed by their work, Sarah and Margaret didn’t register the faint pulses in the ground announcing another after quake. Only when it was too late for them to leave the volcano as the ground began to shake and large cracks happened in the weakened underground did they realize the danger. As far up the mountain as they were, they wouldn’t be able to leave before one of the large cracks might open into the magma chamber and a stream of lava would emerge on this side of the volcano. Supporting each other as they tried to make a safe path down the mountain coming undone around them they had to avoid large boulders released by the violent shakes.

While they fled the mountain Sarah wondered how they hadn’t noticed this quake. There usually were some telltale signs minutes before a shake would begin, but this one had just happened.

Looking up at the volcano, she wished she hadn’t. The after shake had clearly caused the erupted chamber to collapse once again and while it didn’t result in a new explosive eruption, it had caused the magma to overflow and begin its travel on the side they had worked at. Their perceived safety had been a false one. Then the worst thing that could happen occurred. A large crack formed in front of them, blocking the escape as the crack grew wider than they could hope to pass. Cursing, she franticly looked up to gauge the flow of lava coming at them. There were still a good few miles before the lava would reach them, but it was closing in on them and they had to find another safer path before it came too close.

At the bottom of the volcano, Starscream had retreated when he felt the telltale of the after quake. He had with distress watched at the two organics had traveled the mountain still spewing fire and debris, but they had felt calm and secure as he watched them walk up the mountain, so he hadn’t done anything. Now as the fire began to travel down this side of the mountain his ire grew and he paced, hoping to get any sight of them. He didn’t know why he worried for them, but he had felt a serene connection while holding that organic in his servo.

When he tried to take steps up the mountain, he felt the ground grow more and more unstable under his weight and he had aborted his attempt to follow the two, resigned to waiting for them to do what they were set out to do. That much he had understood from their frame language.

Looking at the mountain coming undone before him, he let out a whine before his resolve broke and he transformed. Hovering in the air, he slowly gained altitude while having his wing sensors primed to detect where they were.

Sarah felt her stoic calm fray at its edge as every route they tried down the mountain turned out to be just as unstable as the previous, and all while they fought to get away the lava slowly closed in on them. The warmth from the molten rock had heated the air around them as it came closer and every breath was like breathing fire. Coughing she fought down yet another breath of air, while her body protested the boiling sensation of it in her delicate lung tissue. The lava was now only a few hundred meters away and steadily closing, still she didn’t give up. There had to be a way!

Beside her Margaret was no better than herself, but the blond was slowly entering a panic, watching their death closing in without any escape.

Then a strange sound deafened everything and the wind blew violently around them, cooling the heated bodies. In front of them an unknown flying object emerged from the debris and smoke filling the air and before their eyes they watched as their previous metallic friend emerged as it transformed.

Amazed in all the danger around her, Sarah stared openmouthed as the being transformed into its human like form. It was beautiful how every part of the UFO turned into the metallic frame, every part fitting together to form its sleek form.

Then before she was able to comprehend it, she was grabbed from the ground and beside her Margaret as well, and then they were leaving the death trap the volcano had turned into.

Gasping when her lungs filled with cool air as they flew high in the air, she curled into the warm plating. Being this high in the air it cooled their bodies dangerously and the winds blow against them was merciless. Shivering from the cold sensations on her skin, she felt how her heart fought to keep her organs within the normal temperature range to avoid damage. 

Starscream sensed the fatigue in the two organics as well as a slowing pulsing as the cold affected their small frames and without thinking he set his path towards the spaceship. Ratchet might know what to do.


	26. Chapter 26

Earth, five earth days later:

Slowly, oh so slowly Skywarp woke from his stasis. His processor was sluggish and his frame was stiff and sore.

‘What had happened?’ he wondered, before his processor caught up with everything. The first thing to let him know everything wasn’t right was the scents. The familiar scents of their home was nowhere, instead his olfactory sensors was filled with new strange sensations.

When he onlined his optics the new sensory input from his vision confirmed that this wasn’t home. Home wasn’t this bright. Home didn’t have this many colors and home surely didn’t have those white things in the sky.

Rising from the ground he flexed his wings, whimpering when he felt the newly repaired plating there. Then he remembered his fall and without a thought his servos went to his cockpit. He remembered the report of it being damaged and the thought of his little one froze the energon in his lines. But when his servo touched the cockpit he felt the smooth lines and when he looked it was completely healed. But there were no sign of his little one.

His wings began to tremble violently and his legs shook from the distress filling him.

Looking around, he saw some of the others littering the ground around him, some awakening like himself, some still deeply in stasis. Thundercracker was nowhere.

Whining pathetically when he failed in locating his mate he completely forgot his bond to his mate and the bond to his creation, so consumed by his distress. While the black and purple seeker lost the grasp of reality in this new environment, the Winglord, a mile away sensed the growing distress in his mate and tried to reach through to Skywarp to sooth. Thundercracker had had to find fuel to sustain his systems when he had awoken. His large frame consumed the sedation faster and he had been the first to wake from stasis.

Cradled securely in his servos was their little one.

It had been pure luck that Skywarps cockpit had cracked when he had fallen from the sky. It simply saved the little seekerling from detection by their captors and while Skywarp was in stasis the little one had stayed silent, sensing the danger.

When Thundercracker had awoken and seen the damage done to his mate, fear had gripped his spark, but the still lingering bond to both his mate and his creation had calmed the feelings. Gently prying the cockpit open he had feared what he was going to see, since the glass was a spider web of lines, hiding the content from sight. To his relief the special cockpit the submissive seekers favored had done its duty, protecting the seekerling. But the gyroscope like insides had suffered from the fall, taking the brunt of the hit, while the gel like lining had secured its content. The seekerling only showed a few dents and a bent wing.

At the sight of its creator it had chirred happily and had clung onto the servo reaching for it, when Thundercracker withdrew it from Skywarps shattered cockpit. Kneeling by his unconscious mate, the Winglord had begun the repair of the cockpit, applying nanites to work on the shattered glass. Meanwhile the seekerling had looked on with interest, and when Thundercracker was sure he had done what he could to speed the healing, he had stood.

His fuel tank was agonizingly empty and he knew the seekerling would need fuel soon too, so he knew he had to leave his seekers to find fuel. When Thundercracker less than a cycle later had found something resembling their usual fuel, the little seekerling had looked on when he had fired his lasers at the weak creatures around the fuel source. Mostly the sight of him had them fleeing, but a few brave ones had tried to fend him of. But no matter how much ammunition they fired at him, the bullets did nothing more than ping at the strong alloy. Compared to the weak retaliation from the inhabitants of this new planet, Thundercrackers laser did what it was intended to do, destroy everything it touched. The destruction and bloodbath had not affected the seekerling the least, it had stayed calm and secure in the care of its creator. With a tank full of substances slowly being converted to useful energy, Thundercracker had offered it a feeding line while they traveled back to where the rest of the seekers still lay in stasis.

And this was when he felt Skywarps panic.

Wincing at the growing ire, he knew that Skywarp would be furious when he returned, which was why he sped up to return faster. The faster Skywarp realized that the seekerling was still alive, the better for all of them.

Unfortunately he couldn’t fly with the seekerling, and his own cockpit was not fitted like the submissives was with the protective lining to shield the little one from the forces done to the seeker’s frame while airborne.

Hurrying he soon enough returned to their group and found Skywarp curled into a ball hugging his empty cockpit. Around the carrier their group slowly roused from stasis, and he was pleased to see that more had woken while he had been gone.

Kneeling down beside his mate, he gently caressed a wing.

/Sky./ He soothed, while lowering the seekerling into the sight of his mate.

Feeling the little presence this close, Skywarp opened his optics and looked at the little wriggling seekerling who tried to get out of its creators hold to get to its carrier.

Before Thundercracker could say anymore, the carrier had snatched the seekerling from his servo and was cradling it closely to his frame fussing over it. Discovering the small dents and the bent wing, Skywarp cooed and soothed, apologizing to the seekerling for his stupidity.

As the moment of reunion between carrier and creation had passed, Skywarp placed it back into his cockpit and closed it securely. Then he turned to the Winglord, and Thundercracker took a tentative step back when he felt the rage filling their bond. Rising from the ground, Skywarp followed him in his retreat, his anger growing in intensity with every klik. On his back his wings was on their highest setting and flared widely.

Snarling he pounced on his mate and growled menacingly into Thundercrackers faceplate. With the visible fangs this close and the sight of Skywarp more enraged than he had even seen him, the Winglord didn’t know that he for once lowered his wings to the clear display of anger from his mate. It was the very first time ever he was compelled to show so clear submission.

Still it wasn’t enough for Skywarp.

This was all Thundercrackers fault. He had been against it, warned about the danger. The attack on them above the grounder clan, the damages to the seekerling, the damage to himself and them being stranded this far from home and their other creations. If he didn’t trust the two trines taking care of their creations as much as he did…It was all Thundercrackers fault! The rage flooded his processor and he didn’t manage to think any further.

The snarl turned into a continuous sneering growl as he forced the Winglord back showing not only his fangs but his whole set of dentas as the lips quivered and bared the dentas in open hostility. It was clear to everyone that one wrong move from Thundercracker and Skywarp would go for his neck.

It was a clear reminder to them all to not mess with a carrier. That Thundercracker had taken away the seekerling from a vulnerable carrier while Skywarp hadn’t been able to give his consent had been foolish of the Winglord. He might be the creator, but Skywarp had the deepest emotional connection.

Tackling the larger seeker when Thundercracker didn’t do as he wanted, Skywarp forced his mate to his knees and then to the ground completely, and the Winglord didn’t fight back. Skywarp was in his right to punish him, and whatever the submissive would do to him wouldn’t kill him. It would hurt, yes, but he deserved it. The pain he had inflicted on his mate by taking the seekerling even just for a moment when Skywarp hadn’t been conscious had hurt the carrier when he woke and found the seekerling not there.

When Thundercracker a few cycles later came out of his light stasis from the wounds inflicted by his mate, he winced at the stinging to his wings. Looking at the large plates he could still see where Skywarp almost had wrenched them from his back. It was embarrassing to admit that he didn’t remember much of it, so he must have turned unconscious during the onslaught. Looking down his frame, the blue plating was littered with streaks of black where deep gashes were slowly healing. His chestplates flapped a bit at their hinges, and to his horror he realized that Skywarp had gone as far as clawing his way through them.

Had he really been that mad that he dared almost killing him?

He felt his spark pulse a bit faster at the thought.

Looking around, he found none of the others there. He lay where they had been dumped by their captors, but the rest of the group was gone. He wondered what had happened while he had been unconscious for the group to leave him this vulnerable.

Pinging Skywarp through the bond, he at first got no response, but after a breem a weak ping returned. Then he got a troubling ping of /danger/retreat/protection/ from his mate as explanation to why they had left him and he frowned. They had had to flee the area fast if they had had to leave him be in his state. But what danger could cause a group of forty seekers to flee? During his hunt he had met no enemies beyond the small pathetic creatures, and those didn’t even put up any fight.

Sending a reassuring ping back, he sensed that Skywarp had taken to the air, and no more than a few breems later he saw the beautiful sight of the black and purple seeker in the distance. After all these vorns together, the sight of his mate in the sky still did funny things to his spark. Swelling with pride he looked intensely as Skywarp landed elegantly on his thrusters, not a sound coming from it.

Wary when he landed, Skywarp held his frame stiff and rigid, with wings properly lowered. He might have punished his mate cycles before, but it did nothing to change their stance with each other. He had done what was his right and now was back to showing proper submission to his Winglord. Still he winced at the sight of the still healing wounds, and the knowledge that he had done that made him uneasy. He had done far more than he had intended, but when he first began it had been impossible to stop, with the rage coursing through his frame. When he had clawed his way into the chest plates Crossfire and a few of the others had actually stopped him from going further and accidently do more harm than the Winglord would be able to recover from. He had been furious and fought to be released, but they had stood their ground.

Thundercracker sensed the unease and knew the reason.

Smiling he moved closer to his mate, careful to not show any sudden movements. There was one way for him to calm his submissive. Skywarp knew it too. He had prepared himself for this before he took off from their new resting spot. Still his arousal had dwindled at the sight of the damage, but the lingering lubricants would make it pleasant enough without any pain.

Caressing a cheek gently, Thundercracker locked optics with Skywarp, soothing sensations filling their bond as he oh so gently reached for the trembling wings with his other servo. Scraping his claws on the black plating, he felt Skywarp slowly begin to relax.

Lowering his helm to Skywarps audio, he whispered a request.

/Merge with me./

Whimpering, Skywarp nodded, suddenly grabbing a hold on the larger blue frame and clinging to his mate.

/Didn’t mean to…to…/ the black and purple seeker uttered, unable to finish the sentence, still shocked by his own aggression.

/I know./ Thundercracker whispered, no need for more this close. Reaching his servos down, he took a firm grip on Skywarps rear and hoisted him up, holding him by the strength in his arms.

/Mine./ he said with a bit more force and pleasantly felt how Skywarp leaned on his frame.

/Yours./ the black and purple seeker uttered and his valve cover slid aside.

Rumbling with satisfaction, Thundercracker released his spike and slowly sheathed himself inside the slick valve.

Relaxing his helm by Thundercrackers neck, Skywarp moaned at the feeling of the spike. Completely out of any control during this joining, he allowed his frame to go slack and relax. He knew Thundercracker wasn’t mad at him, and that his own unease was a result of the strange submission his mate had showed when Skywarp had been enraged. Now it felt right and nice to return to his submissive position and allow Thundercracker to take control once again.

When Thundercracker began a slow and gentle thrusting, moving the black and purple seeker up off his spike and then letting the weight of Skywarps own frame cause it to impale itself on the spike again, Skywarp let out a few sobs. Not that he was sad or anything, the sensations just caused feelings to flare inside him.

After a few thrusts, he felt how his spark longed for his mate. How the sensations build and build inside him without any outlet. The feelings was simply too intense and before he knew it he had released the lock on his chest plates and his spark was bared.

/Need you. Please?/ he whimpered as Thundercracker did another thrust into him.

He felt how Thundercracker stopped for a moment, and was about to complain before the Winglord lowered them to the ground, still firmly sheathed inside him. The thrusting resumed, now by Thundercrackers movements only. Then he was bathed in the glowing light of the blue seekers spark and he let out a sigh when Thundercracker lowered himself to allow the two sparks to connect.

Pure bliss encased him. He felt how his spark sang in their merge, and without any thought he clung to the essence who was Thundercracker, not wanting to ever let go. When the overload finally claimed them and he wasn’t able to hold on to Thundercracker in their merge anymore, he practically cried when he returned to his frame, energon tears running down his cheeks in streams.

As he came out of the post overload bliss, Thundercracker felt how spent his frame was. The fuel he had managed to sustain it with had been drained during the last cycles, and he felt how his systems complained about the low energy. Panting, he carefully lay down beside Skywarp and embraced the crying seeker. There he just stayed as a silent protector while his mate showed his deepest vulnerabilities. He knew Skywarp longed for the deeper bond they had shared in the time before the insanity, for that little part connecting them deeper than anything. Yet, it never returned, no matter how much they merged their sparks, they were only left with the ability to push short half sentences through their connection like with any other bond.

After several breems, Skywarp stopped trembling, and the sobs were no longer heard. With a sigh, Thundercracker rose on his arms and looked down at the slack black and purple frame; Skywarp had cried himself into recharge. At the sight, Thundercracker hated that he had to wake his mate to know where their group had gone to, but then he would allow his mate to rest. It was clear that the new environment had affected Skywarp hard and the stress was unhealthy for his mate.

Carrying his mate as he slowly flew to the location the seekers had retreated to, he once again wondered what had caused his seekers to retreat and leave him behind. He needed to know what had happened, if there were a threat to them on this new world.

Coming to the foliage covering the ground that Skywarp had told him about he soon found the clearing the seekers had made in the forest but yet not a forest they had found. The trees was too small to cover them when standing, and barely covering them when lying down, still it was the best they had found which resembled home.

Landing gently on the ground, he bounced in his knees to avoid the shaking of his frame to rouse Skywarp from his recharge. Looking around he found them all there, and he sensed the only reason for why they didn’t move towards him was the slack frame of his mate in his arms.

Nodding to them, he moved to where Crossfire had found a resting spot for the dominant and his trinemates. If he was to gain knowledge, Crossfire was the seeker most able to explain what had happened.

The dominant rose from his position between his submissives and motioned for Thundercracker to lower his mate down on the spot he had rested at. The recharging submissive would be secure in the proximity of the two other submissives, while the dominants went to talk.  
/What happened?/ Thundercracker asked, wanting to know as soon as possible what had transpired.

/Grounders./ Crossfire hissed in anger.

The decepticons had come out of nowhere shortly after he and a few of the others had restrained Skywarp and stopping him from doing more damage to his mate. At the sight of the grounders, they had been about to attack, knowing without being completely certain that it had been those grounders who had downed them back home and brought them to where this new place was.

But the grounders had dominated them easily when it was clear that the seekers was about to pounce them. The large grey one had taken something out and to his horror, Crossfire had watched Skywarp seize and fall slack to the ground. The optics had still been online, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t get Skywarp to respond. It had been frightening. Both their leading seekers were down and the enemy held unknown powers. Fleeing had been their only opportunity, and it seemed that the grounders would let them, but when he had moved towards the Winglord, weapons had been trained on him and before he knew it he felt lasers being fired at him, his plating registering the hits even if the lasers did no damage. It had been too much for him, and as the dominant in charge now that both Thundercracker and Skywarp was unavailable he had retreated from the area, securing Skywarp and feeling fear for both what would happen to Thundercracker, and the sure retaliation the Winglord would turn on him for abandoning his leader to the enemy.

/Grounders./ Thundercracker growled after listening to Crossfires explanation.

Turning to the dominant, he scrutinized the other seeker. Crossfire was no weakling and Thundercracker trusted his judgment of a situation, still he felt a slight anger at the abandoning. Taking a fleeting look in the direction of his mate however, he was pleased that the dominant had protected what was most important to him - Skywarp.

With a sigh, he nodded at the other.

/You did well. This place is new to all of us. We will have to adapt and fight to return home./ he told the other.

Nodding in acceptance, Crossfire agreed to the statement. They would fight and they would return home.

Mount St. Helens:

Down below the volcano, every surviving autobot was now online and functioning somewhat.

When Starscream had returned with the two humans in his grasp, a lot had happened. First the two humans had panicked at the sight of the ground bound transformers. Secondly, a faint understanding had formed and with that understanding came connections to the human society.

Optimus had been in the company of the two humans while Ratchet treated their fatigue as best he could. With the explanation Starscream had provided them, the medic was surprised they even had survived the stark contrasts of heat and cold upon their small frames without entering a coma. The earth quake had shaken the spaceship, but done no damage beyond the few boulders hitting the outer shell this far down the crack at the new shake.

Now Optimus was in a meeting with some of their new connections to this new race. What he had learned from Sarah and Margaret was that the human he communicated with at the moment was one of the higher ups in their society and the one he would need to contact further on. To his surprise the humans lived with as much bureaucracy as he had had to deal with home on Cybertron before the senators was killed and they were thrown into war. If he was to be honest, they might even be stricter. It had taken him the last five earth days to get this far in the ranks and was now finally, finally where he could offer his assistance and what else the humans needed and request what he himself and the autobots needed.

“Secretary of Defense.” he greeted politely, having received the proper rank of this human from Sarah. His english had improved during the talks with the two humans at their base and he now pronounced the words fluently like he always had spoken the language.

On the large screen, the face of the human contorted, showing an expression of disdain.

“What is this?” the human asked.

“I am Optimus Prime, leader of the autobots. We are mechanical beings from the planet Cybertron. Unfortunately events caused us to crash on your planet a long time ago, and the recent eruption of the volcano St. Helens released us from the ground.” The autobot leader explained. As he told their tale the face of the human went through several expressions for then ending with a skeptical pointed look.

“This is a joke!” the human sneered.

With a sigh, Optimus turned to Sarah who lingered out of sight of the screen. They had been through this every time he was led on further up the ranks.

Lowering his servo palm up, Sarah stepped onto it and was brought into view of the other human.

“Sir.” She greeted. “There is no joke. They are real, like really real. Just like the Japanese toys destroying Seattle a few weeks ago. Remember those?” she asked serious, referring to the whole scale attack the decepticons had launched on the city. When the alarms had gone through, the National Guard had just thought it was someone joking, until they saw live feeds of the large transformers wreaking havoc.

“Miss Wethersworth.” The secretary began, only to be stopped in what he intended to say by the woman.

“No hear me out! They. Are. Real. Don’t let more people die because you don’t believe that sentient life exist other places in the universe. Those “toys” are the bad ones.” Pointing to Optimus she continued “These are the good ones. We need them!” she urged.

“And if I was to believe in this, what do they want?” he asked exasperated.

“Offer help.” Was the simple answer.

“And if we don’t need or want it, then what?” the secretary continued.

“You will need it. The decepticons are not going to leave you alone. They have already brought in reinforcements of a kind that will be impossible for you to handle.” Optimus warned. He hadn’t told Sarah or Margaret of the seekers. He feared that if he did, their trust in Starscream would falter and he would lose his connection to the humans. Starscream had been and still was the only reason the two accepted the autobots.  
Still, the threat the seekers possessed was greater than the loss of goodwill from the two women.

“We don’t need your help. Our last confrontation with your foes left them wounded. They are not invulnerable and as such we will take them down and whatever they are sending our way.” The secretary told the autobot leader.

Face palming as the feed was cut by the Secretary of Defense, Sarah let out an exasperated sigh. Those high-strung stickups.

Looking up at the autobot leader she apologized for the rudeness of her leader.

“They will return.” Optimus stated.

“Yes, but how many have died when that happens?” she asked rhetorically.

“At least you got the shipment of oil to convert to that energon you use.” She added offhandedly.

“Yes. It will give Wheeljack time to construct his solar powered energon converter. I must say, your sun provides you with a great amount of energy if you just used it more. If just the star Cybertron circled around was as close as your sun is to your planet. Then we wouldn’t have had the shortage of fuel back in the day.” Optimus mused.

“Yeah, if just.” She sighed. Then she walked of the servo as Optimus lowered it to the ground and went to find Margaret and their new flying friend. They needed a lift up the crack to get back to their work.

Looking at the departing human, Optimus hope the young race will survive their encounter with the decepticons and the seekers.

Sitting in his assigned quarters, Starscream had isolated himself from the others. Ever since the sight of the seekers coming to the planet he had felt strange. New subroutines had emerged and he could only stare at them confused when pings entered his HUD, scanning for compatible spark signatures. Not only had he the scan running all times, unable to abort the process, but a strange need coming from his spark pestered him every wake cycle.

So much new data was filling his mind that his processor felt like it was drowning in the unknown information being logged. He felt his coding being rewritten while awake and it wasn’t a pleasurable sensation. Least of all when he didn’t know what was going on inside him. And when he complained about it to Ratchet, the medic had grudgingly admitted that he could do nothing about it. The few times Ratchet had plugged into his systems, he had been cast out with force by new powerful firewalls. What few lines of new coding Ratchet had gleaned from those times hadn’t helped in understanding anything.

It was frustrating.

He didn’t even like the seekers. The last remembered memory had been before their departure where he had been filled with loathing of his kin.

Today had been the worst ever. When a report of seeker activity had come in and they had watched the vid file, the sight of the blue seeker massacring the humans had not filled him with loathing. No, instead he had felt a longing in his spark and he barely held back a sound he scarily so knew would have been a moan when an especially nasty attack collapsed one of the large buildings. Ashamed that he felt pleasure in the violence he had gone to his quarters and had not emerged ever since.

Even now the thought of it caused his core temperature to rise. What was wrong with him?

He was a peace loving AUTOBOT! Not a damned violence seeking seeker!

Groaning in exasperation, he heard the faint knock on the door and knew that it was one of his small human friends. He didn’t feel like socializing with anyone at the moment, but knew they needed him to get home. He was the only one who easiest could get up from where the spaceship rested.

Rising from where he had sat on the berth he keyed the door open and looked down.

Looking up, Sarah saw the tired optics not shining like she remembered from their first encounter. Her friend was troubled.

Taking the lowered servo as an invitation, she settled in the palm and waited for Starscream to straighten again. When she was eye to optic with her friend she smiled to him.

“You are troubled.” She concluded to him.

“Eh, yes.” Starscream admitted, his voice even sounding strained.

Holding the human in his servo, he wondered if he would be able to kill Sarah just like the blue seeker had killed the humans. It would just require for him to clench his servo around her fragile frame and she would be dead. To his relief the mere thought filled him with repulsion. At least he wasn’t becoming like the other seeker.

Feeling a bit more relaxed at this realization he went to where Margaret was watching Ratchet work.

The blonde human had been greatly fascinated by the healing abilities the medic possessed and how the transformers worked. Ratchet had been flattered and hadn’t grumbled as he used to, when the human stuck to him while he worked.

“Time to go home sunshine.” Sarah singsongs when Starscream enters into the medbay, locating the other human perched on Ratchets shoulders.

A few breems later Starscream clears the ground at the bottom of the still smoldering volcano, holding the two humans in a protective grip by his servos. Landing a few miles away, where their car is waiting for them he chirrs a goodbye before he watch them drive away.

Flexing his wings in the weak blowing wind, he lets out a deep breath. Feeling relaxed and serene for the first time that orn he looks to the sky. If the longing for the other seeker was strong, the longing for the sky at least was stronger and able to drown out the other.

Checking his wings, his gaze lingers on the new autobot symbols added to them. He had had to agree with Optimus that now that the seekers have come to Earth, he need to differentiate from them. When the humans learn of the autobots, the symbol would show them that Starscream wasn’t there to kill them.

Taking to the sky, he spent a few cycles playing with the wind and loving the feel of the denser atmosphere as well as the stronger gravity. Where he first had been annoyed that he wasn’t able to break the sound barrier like back on Cybertron, the caresses to his plating was so much more. It almost made up for the slower speed he had to endure flying at. As he swerved further and further away from the volcano he encountered more traffic in the air.

Ever since he learned that those machines he had mistaken for seekers was piloted by the humans, he had tried to avoid them. Even if he wasn’t there to take them out of the air, the sight of his tetrajet tended to cause disruption in their flight pattern and not a few times Starscream had had to intercept the flying machines to avoid any catastrophe happening. The nearest airport now knew of him fairly well after his fifth visit with a plane in his grasp. Every time he had apologized to the stunned humans left on the tarmac of the airport when he took off after delivering the planes.

The first time he had intercepted a plane, he had lowered it gently on the ground in the middle of nowhere, had apologized and been about to take off. One of the humans not as affected as the rest had then in a small voice asked that he before he took of please would deliver them to where they belonged, at an airport. That was why he simply delivered every following plane to the airport he had been guided to at that first nonviolent encounter.

Sarah still laughed whenever he had to admit that he had had an encounter with yet another plane.

It had all become routine for him at this point. Spotting yet another figure in the air ahead of him, he wasn’t alerted to the presence as he should have been and would have a few earth days earlier. Ignoring the presence and gaining altitude to reach far above the approaching machine he didn’t pay any attention to his HUD alerting him of approaching spark signatures.

Before he almost entered space, he leveled out and lingered there for a moment before transforming and watching the figure blow past him way down below. If he didn’t know that the figure would pass him he wouldn’t have been able to see it, or so he thought, but to his surprise the figure was way larger than any of the planes he had encountered. In fact it was as large as him, maybe even larger. And it wasn’t just one.

As the seekers passed by down below he registered the blue plating and a black and purple frame sticking close to the other.

Squawking in surprise he fell a few miles before he regained control of his thrusters.

To his luck the two seekers didn’t register his drop in altitude, in fact they didn’t register him at all. Thundercracker was too occupied by Skywarp swirling around him as they flew, and Skywarp was consumed by the joy only the air could instill in a seeker. To their knowledge they were the only ones there and didn’t pay attention to their surroundings, why would they? They were the masters of the sky and nothing could take them down. All their seekers were back at their resting area, so the pair was free to play and enjoy their private time while exploring the nearest surroundings.

Hovering while he watched the departing pair of seekers, Starscream felt conflicted. He should return to base, but something compelled him to follow the two seekers. He felt a strange pull in his spark and his confusion towards his own reactions at the sight of the seekers grew. But this time it hadn’t just been a sight through a screen, no he had been so close to them. Too close the autobot in him said, seeing the seekers as enemies. But his coding would have none of it and ruled out his deeper reasoning. It wanted WANTED something he still didn’t understand.

Caving in under the merciless demands of his coding he transformed and followed the departing figures at a distance. To sooth his troubled mind he thought that this might solve some of the mysteries.

Half a cycle later he knew that following them had been a great mistake.

They had reached far away from the area around the volcano. Now they flew above some of the denser inhabited parts of the area and not a few planes had been in the air, stressing on had been. He had been powerless when the seekers had downed the defenseless planes they encountered in their path, and had watched with growing trepidation when the black and purple seeker had entered a cruel game with one of them, charging it head on and shredding it when they impacted dead on. The seeker had come out of it without any damage while the burning parts of the plane had fallen to the ground. At that point, the larger planes had left the airspace, most littering the ground in burning husks, and some faster and smaller ones had entered the air and had shot at the seekers.

It had turned into a combat zone that high up in the air, with explosions happening all around the seekers as sizzling ammunition flew at them at high speed and impacted.

But no matter how much the humans tried to fight of the two seekers, their fate was sealed the moment they took to the air to intercept the two aliens. Megatron as well as Optimus had been right – there was nothing the humans could throw at the seekers which could do more than fleck the paint of their sturdy frames.

He had held back until the last plane was destroyed and the seekers had moved on. Then he moved into the zone and tried to locate any survivors. He managed to catch the last plane before it impacted with the ground and to his relief the human inside was still alive yet wounded. Landing on the ground he gently pried the plane into parts to get the human free of the burning metal. Scanning the area for any signs of life, he sadly found none.

With trembling wings he looked at the destruction around him and despaired.

This was the seekers he longed after?!

When the human in his grasp vented its last breath, Starscream fell to his knees and wailed.

This was how the National Guard found the lone seeker.

With heavy weaponry trained on the seeker they closed in on him. Starscream didn’t care; he was lost in his own mind.

After half an earth hour of no movements from the seeker, Starscream finally withdrew from his mind and acknowledged the humans around him.

“I am sorry.” He whispered in his scratchy voice. “I am so sorry I didn’t interfere.” A sob followed the words as he once again looked down at the dead human in his servo.

The sound of english coming from the alien being caused surprise and fear to spike in the humans gathered around him and he saw it clearly in their frame language. They hadn’t expected that, and definitely not that he apologized.

Kneeling further to the ground he gently laid the dead human there for its kin to reach.

Rising to his thrusters he startled them and the heavy weaponry was aimed closely at him. But he didn’t move any further.

He felt ashamed. More ashamed than back at the base. He had let his own fascination and then fear control him and he had done nothing. He didn’t contemplate that he would have stood no chance against two seekers on his own; still he felt he should have done something, anything to prevent the bloodshed.

Instead he had been hiding, holding back.

Coward.

Useless.

Weak.

His mind was flooding him with derogatory words describing his actions, or rather lack of.

Once again caught up in his mind he wasn’t aware when he began to move. Stepping away from the humans around him and distancing himself from them before igniting his thrusters he left the area of the massacre.

Before he transformed in the air he took one last glance at the area, memorizing his shame. Then he turned towards the volcano and his family.

At the location of the spacebridge, Megatron followed the tricolored seeker with rapt attention.

“Any chance it is one of ours?” he asked Soundwave as they watched the seeker leave the arriving humans alone.

“Negative. Coloration not verified.” Soundwave responded, trying to match the tricolored frame with the data on the seekers they had brought to the planet.

A feral grin formed on Megatrons lips. What was Optimus playing at?! An autobot seeker? Ridiculous. They were uncontrollable destructive beings, not peace loving saps.

“I want it, Soundwave. And I want to know how Optimus got it.” he growled.

The seekers were HIS! His to control, his to order!

It had been pure luck that they now had this new information. He had decided to monitor the pair ever since that violent encounter between the two he had tried to intercept. He couldn’t have the leader killed, since that would leave him without any control.

With an affirmative from the telepath, he left Soundwave to come up with suggestions to lure this new intriguing seeker into their hold. Surely it wanted to be with its kin, right?

It turned out to be harder than first anticipated, Megatron had to admit. The seeker stayed well out of sight, in fact it stayed above or only a few miles from the volcano where the autobot base was. It was frustrating for the decepticon leader to see his prize play in the air while out of his grasp. Every suggestion they had come up with didn’t fit, since they couldn’t see any pattern in the emergence of the seeker. And as long as it stayed that close to the autobot base, their chances in ambushing it was low, surely Optimus monitored the surrounding area and especially when the seeker would be out.

As a week turned to two, Megatrons patience was at its limits.

Their first encounter with the autobots had happened two days ago, when the decepticons went to raid for fuel to sustain them. With the seekers flying overhead, shredding the humans’ war machinery before they got any hits through to the decepticons on the ground, the autobots surprisingly had showed themselves for the first time.

It seemed the humans finally had accepted that they needed the saps.

At the sight of Optimus charging him in altmode he had briefly Com’ed Soundwave to keep optics on the sky for the autobot seeker. This might be their chance if it showed up.

At the end of the fight, where the decepticons had to grudgingly accept defeat even if they retreated with enough fuel to sustain them for a while, the seeker hadn’t showed up. Megatron was curious as to why that was. Everything he knew of the seekers seemed to be rewritten with the strange behavior of this new seeker.

Telling Soundwave to let Laserbeak stay back, while they retreated, he hoped that the autobots would, unaware of the spy, spill some of their secrets.

When Laserbeak a few cycles later returned, he could only laugh when Optimus and his CMO so freely spilled their secrets of the seeker. It came to his surprise to know that they had had it all this time. Amused he listened as Ratchet, the seemingly cold sparked autobot CMO worried about his little seeker back at the base. It seemed the seeker had become more distant lately, isolating itself from what it considered its family in the autobots. Hmm, and the other seekers might be the reason? He listened intensely, while a possible plan slowly emerged in his processor.

When the vid finally ended, a genuine smile showed on his lips, he would welcome his wayward seeker back into his folds where it could be with the kin it so longed for.

After two weeks of frustration the plan was about to be put into motion.

Keeping a short leash on his group of seekers, he had scheduled for some of them to participate in this special capture. They might as well familiarize with their new member as soon as possible. Watching the lovely decepticon red optics of the blue leader, he ignored the death glare from the black and purple seeker only held back by the specific orders from the leader. With a smirk he turned his back to the pair, showing that he didn’t consider them any threat. It was like a fist in their face, he knew and he loved the power.

Nodding to Soundwave, he ordered his mechs on their positions.

In the distance, the now completely cooled volcano rose high into the sky and had yet to show the frame they were there for.

Time went by as they waited. They had realized that even if there weren’t any pattern to when the seeker emerged, it always did so one time in the orn. They just had to be patient.

When day turned to night and the seeker hadn’t emerged yet, Megatron began to wonder if it was ever going to. But then a few breems later the sight of the burning thrusters shot up from the ground and into the sky. Behind him he sensed the seekers perk up by the sight of something entering what they considered theirs. Smiling he knew they would perform perfectly.

“Release them.” he ordered Soundwave, and the telepath erased the strict order for the blue seeker to stay on the ground and show no hostility. Instead almost everything was given free, as long as it didn’t damage any decepticons.

The instant Thundercracker was released from the invisible bonds the mind controller had laid on him, he ignited his thrusters and shot to the air before transforming. Beside him Skywarp mirrored him, just like the rest of the seekers.

When in the air the group split up. Thundercracker and Skywarp flew a head of the group, investigating the unknown presence in the air. With wing sensors on alert it took little time to locate the trespasser in their sky.

But the identification came as surprise.

Unidentified.

Growling in anger Thundercracker pushed his thrusters to gain in on the being.

Within a few miles of the being he suddenly sensed it, a strange ping in his spark just as his HUD verified a spark signature emitting from the being. The sensation coupled with the fact that it had a spark signature caused his thrusters to splutter as disbelief filled him.

How?

Thundercracker knew that spark and air meant a seeker, but still he felt nothing from it in his own spark. It wasn’t one of his.

Beside him he sensed Skywarp felt his confusion and a soothing sensation telling him that they would find it out filled him from his mate.

Furthermore Skywarp pushed his own sensation of his spark pinging him through.

Trine coding had activated.

It settled it for Thundercracker, the knowledge that it HAD to be a seeker and their trinemate to be.

With that knowledge he ordered the rest of their group to fall back. This was trine matters now and he would accept no interfering.

Miles ahead of the seekers, unaware of the danger approaching, Starscream felt his spark go haywire. Gasping out loud he transformed and clutched at his chest plating. The kliks of hesitation caused the approaching seekers to get within range of his detection and franticly looking around he tried to locate them. When he did, he felt how he once again became conflicted. Something wanted him to fly and join them; another part still screamed enemies to him.

Whimpering when the sensation in his spark became painful he was unable to move and just hovered as the others closed in on him.

Coming in close to what he now saw was truly a seeker, Thundercracker barely held back the urge to claim his trinemate to be then and there. Sensing fear rolling from the frame and the wings tremble violently, he steeled himself in the presence of his claimed mate. Skywarp came up close and pressed into his frame, supporting his dominant as well as beginning the challenge between himself and their new trinemate to be. He wasn’t giving up Thundercrackers full attention this easily even if he longed for them to be trine.

To his surprise the other seeker didn’t even react or acknowledge him or his challenge. Letting out an annoyed growl at the rude dismissal of the traditional challenge between submissives he let the other know his irritation.

Thundercracker silenced him with a snarl and he fell back, still supporting his mate, but not interfering anymore.

Starscream had seen Skywarps movement, but didn’t know why the other seeker acted like it did. In fact he didn’t know much of what the pair was transmitting; even if his own coding told him it was important. The pain still lingering in his spark told him it was important too, but all he wanted was to flee. He wanted nothing to do with the two, yet his optics roamed the large blue frame showing so much strength. Landing on the large wings, he unconsciously responded to their fanning with his own and the reaction seemed to rile the blue seeker. This close he could practically feel the cooling fans activating and this was when he fled. Without thinking, completely ignoring the pain in his spark he transformed and blasted away at his highest speed towards the base.

A furious roar followed him, and he knew that he was being hunted. Pushing his thrusters to their maximum and then a little further he laid space between himself and his pursuers. He was fast, he knew, but was he fast enough?

Yelping when the black and purple seeker suddenly appeared in front of him, he barely missed flying head on into the other. Deviating from his path he tried to return to the direction which would lead him to the crack in the ground fastest, but every time the other seeker teleported in front of him and disrupted his flight.

Then the volcano was there, and there in front of him was the crack. Diving into it as soon as possible he hoped to lose the other. This time it was Skywarp who yelped at the sight of the other seeker vanishing into the ground. Hovering above where Starscream had vanished, he let out a pitiful wail.

Starscream didn’t care that the sound caused his spark to ache; he only had his mind on returning to the spaceship and safety.

Arriving at the entrance Ratchet and Optimus was waiting for him. The autobot leader was wary and had drawn his blaster, while Ratchet paced and clearly was nervous.

When Starscream landed, Ratchet had a hold on him instantly, scanning his frame for any damage done. For once Starscream let his creator fuss and check him. The whole incident had been scary.

As the panic left him the pain in his spark returned full force and he whimpered.

“Hurts.” He told the medic while clutching his chest.

Ratchet frowned and guided him inside and into the medbay.

When Starscream lay down on a berth Ratchet plugged into him, ignoring the danger to himself, trying to find the reason. This time he wasn’t thrown out instantly and he found that Starscreams subroutines were completely scrambled. When he prompted for a reason, only one showed.

Denying activated trine coding.

Above the volcano Thundercracker was furious. Skywarp had rarely seen him this incensed. Flying to meet the Winglord, he felt the heat rolling of his mate when he came up close, and before he knew it, Thundercracker had grabbed him and was prying his valve cover open.

Wincing at the pain, he tried to get it to retract on its own. He wasn’t aroused, but his mate was. Thundercracker had been prepared for the trine challenge and then the claim of their third, but had been denied both and now he needed an outlet.

When the cover finally slid aside and bared his valve, he howled in agony when Thundercracker plunged his spike into him. Sobbing as the pain flared with each thrust he clung to his mate. He understood. And he could endure.

When Thundercracker overloaded, he let out a sigh of relief when the spike retracted.

/Sorry, sorry. Had to./ Thundercracker apologized, nuzzling the trembling black wings as he held them in the air.

Looking into the pained optics of the Winglord, Skywarp reached one of his servos to caress a cheek.

/Don’t worry. I know. I can handle it, just this once after all this time./ he soothed.

Pulses of affection filled him from Thundercracker at that. Still he felt the lingering apology bleeding through as well.

/Yours/ he pushed. Then after a thought he added /And he will be too. Just… Don’t punish him too much next time we encounter him. I sense he haven’t had much to do with seekerkin./

/I know. Still something in him recognizes us as who and what we are./ Thundercracker hummed.

/Trine, finally trine after all this time./ Skywarp acknowledged, even if something in him felt slightly uneasy. He hadn’t forgotten what The Sky Above had told him, that he never would have a complete trine. What was going on? Not that he complained, he had just accepted his fate as he had thought it would be.


	27. Chapter 27

During the following week Ratchet did whatever he could to reverse the damages done to Starscreams subroutines. But every twist and tweak of the coding he was allowed to do reversed back into their scrambled state almost instantly following his work.

It was frustrating. And while he tried to fix how the coding had been disrupted, Starscream continued to be in great pain; a pain which seemed to intensify with every day passing. After a few days Starscream had begged to be put under, and Ratchet had accepted his wish.

Now in stasis and monitored heavily Starscream to Ratchets surprise continued a deteriorating path when looking deeply into the seekers coding. The fact that Ratchet was able to even look this close into it was alarming. The firewalls were nonexistent at this point and without them he could mess as much he wanted to with who Starscream was. It was frightening to the medic to watch how much it all affected his creation.

Running external firewalls to protect the seeker from becoming infected by viruses and diseases he had banned everyone from the medbay. It was clear to him that the internal self-repair was working, but it didn’t prioritize what to do, instead it saw Ratchets interventions as the damaged parts and not the messed coding.

With a sigh he deactivated the stasis and waited for Starscream to wake. They had to talk.

When the seeker onlined his optics and slowly rose on the berth, Ratchet perched casually on it beside the seeker.

“You are trouble!” he groused, but with a faint smile on his lips.

“That bad still?” Starscream asked, rubbing his chest where the pain returned.

“I have tried everything. You keep ruining my work.” The medic told the seeker exasperated.

“But I have learned a bit while digging through your personality. That trine coding we encountered a week ago which seem to be the troublemaker… It is connected to EVERYTHING. I can’t and wouldn’t rid you of it if it was possible since that would make you not you, but it runs deeply in every routine and subroutine you possess and is even connected to your spark. So it is the reason why you feel your pain. You are rejecting the coding, and by that trying to reject your own spark. I know it is impossible for you to reject it, which is why the pain. Now, if you were a mech I would rewrite your coding, and I have tried, but your self-repair keeps changing it back.” The medic explained with a sigh.

“So what do you suggest?” Starscream asked, carefully watching his creator.

“I won’t keep secrets Starscream. You are in great risk of something essential malfunctioning and killing you in this state. Even a simple virus could kill you, that weakened are your systems by the scrambled routines running. I suspect your self-repair to work but not prioritizing correctly. Instead of working with the damage most severe to your coding it fights against my small rewriting that prevents you from becoming more vulnerable.” Ratchet shook his helm in frustration.

“I suggest following, my troublesome patient. Stop fighting it. It does you no good to fight against what clearly is a natural event in a seeker.” Ratchet told him, his optics steeled for the outburst from the seeker.

“What?!” Starscream screeched. “You don’t know what you are saying Ratchet!” the seeker protested.

“Then tell me. What does this do to you that is so horrible?” the medic asked, a glint of interest in his optics.

“It- It… It causes me to want… something. But I won’t. I won’t betray you Ratchet!” the seeker’s voice was a hushed whisper and at the last words a weak whimper left him.

“What make you think that following your coding is betraying me, us?” Ratchet asked incredulous.

Starscream drew a deep breath before he studied the medic intensely.

“I want him, them, but I don’t want it. Feels like betrayal. They are enemies. They are violent. I don’t want that?” Starscream began, ending the sentence with a questioning sound.

“Starscream, they are our enemies, enemies to the autobots, by technicality they aren’t your enemies. You haven’t been in combat with them, haven’t fired on them or been fired upon by them.” Ratchet told him in a careful voice.

“But- but. Maybe they are going to kill me?” Starscream whispered.

“By your explanation of your encounter, they didn’t seem that hostile. But what does your coding tell you?” Ratchet mused.

To his surprise Starscream blushed, the black of his helm not able to hide the clear rush of energon to his faceplates. The monitor showed increased spark pulse and rising temperature.

Frowning he turned his optics from the alerting monitors and back to the clearly flustered seeker.

“So, care to tell?” he asked, curiously.

Starscream just sat there and fidgeted with his servos, scraping his claws in the palms and drawing small drops of energon.

“Starscream?” he asked after a breem of silence.

Starscreams helm shot up and a look of defeat showed on his face.

“I can’t.” he whispered.

“Or won’t?” Ratchet countered.

“I still don’t understand myself Ratchet. Don’t demand this of me. I- I need time to think. Maybe you are right. But what if you aren’t?” Starscream admitted, jumping down from the berth and moving to leave the medbay.

With a sigh of defeat Ratchet let the seeker leave. He knew Starscream would return, he just hoped it happened before anything crucial to the seekers survival malfunctioned.

At his quarters, Starscream keyed the door open and strode into the room. Flopping onto the berth, ignoring the pain when his wings hit the surface, he let out a frustrated groan.

How was he going to explain something that he didn’t understand himself?

Pulling up an image of the blue seeker, he studied the large frame intensely. He felt a strange connection to the seeker, he had to admit that. And the closeness to the seeker had felt beyond good. So good he had become scared of his own feelings. He hadn’t fled because he was frightened; no it had been due to the flood of sensations and feelings filling him. He had never felt anything like it.

Frag, even his wings had begun to tingle that close. Something that was completely new to him.

Not able to stifle the moan escaping his vocalizer at the thought of what the blue seeker’s onlining cooling fans had done to his wings when the hot air blew against them, he gave in to the sensations filling his frame. Secure in his quarters he gave in to the arousal his coding instilled in him.

With the beginning acceptance the pain in his spark subsided and allowed for the pleasure coursing through his frame to heighten. Soon he felt an uncomfortable burning sensation between his legs. Squirming to ease it, he found nothing helped.

Groaning in frustration he rose to look down himself.

This was when he saw the covers for the first time. The reason why he found them instantly was the seeping fluids staining one of them, drops of liquid slowly flowing from behind it.

Reaching a claw down to touch he let out a surprised moan when hot pleasure filled his frame at the touch to the wet plating. The burning sensation seared his wings and the sensors lit increasing his core temperature even more.

Whimpering when the searing pleasure suddenly turned to agonizing pain his frame instantly shut down, causing him to enter emergency stasis as the heat overheated delicate circuitry and caused the fuel pump to dangerously stutter for kliks before it realigned. The internal cooling system of his frame had malfunctioned.

Back at the medbay Ratchet was startled when the monitor showing Starscreams vitals blared out code red alerts. Seeing the temperature of the seekers frame hitting far above what it could take, and the spark flare wildly, he ran to the base wide comm line at the door and ordered for everyone to locate the seeker instantly.

Several breems later Starscream was carried through the doors to the medbay where an agitated Ratchet waited. Digging into the internals of the seeker as soon as he had the seeker on a berth and the frame open, he realized that his fears had been right. The internal cooling systems worked perfectly, but they hadn’t been activated when the temperature rose. The scrambled subroutines monitoring the internal temperature had not activated the systems as they should, thus causing the malfunction in the internal cooling.

Cursing he connected Starscream to external cooling systems and watched as the temperature steadily fell. Now he just had to repair the damage the dangerous rise in temperature had caused.

Yet again the seeker proved to be a troublesome patient.

Beginning the repair, he thanked Primus for wireless monitoring.

When the seeker a few days later came out of stasis, silence reigned the medbay. Medic and seeker watched each other closely. Then Starscream bowed his helm in defeat. His close call had been a wakeup call.

“I’ll do it.” he told the medic finally, breaking the silence.

“Good.” Ratchet responded, moving a chair beside the berth where Starscream relaxed. “Spill it.” he said as he sat down.

“ I lied. I didn’t flee them because I was scared. Ratchet, I have longed for them for a long time now. To be that close…” venting a deep sigh he steeled himself to continue “It did something to me. Feelings, sensations, frag my wings reacted to their closeness with sensations I have never felt before. I can’t even explain how strong those feeling were, I have nothing to compare it to.” The seeker admitted.

“My coding wants them. Trine they are trine even if I don’t know what that means. And, and the pleasure flaring in my frame…uncontrollable and intoxicating. I feel I need to fight it, to regain control. I just did, refused to let it take over. And then there were the pain in my spark.”

A tiny voice interrupted his explanation and when the two transformers looked down, Sarah and Margaret looked up at them.

Sarah was shaking her head while grinning.

“Oh Starscream. To me it sounds like you are in love.” She smiled.

“Love?” he asked dumbfounded. How could the humans have an explanation to seeker coding?

“Yes, when you like someone. Really like. More than just as friend.” The human tried to explain.

He still didn’t understand the concept, but now something new entered his mind. Friends. What of the other seekers, would they like him if he accepted his coding? And what in his mind set the blue seeker off from the others? Would this “love” do something special to him?

He felt his helm begin to hurt as he tried to see the larger picture.

Offlining his optics he ignored the humans as Ratchet interested asked questions about this love. Trust the medic to be interested.

Vaguely he heard Sarah explain about partners for life and such. Would that be what this seeker was? His destined partner? Was that why the coding had flared whenever he saw the blue seeker?

Entering an uneasy recharge, his systems cycled down.

Slowly acceptance had begun to do its work in the tricolored seeker. Without Ratchets knowledge the subroutines slowly realigned and became less scrambled as the self-repair began to work correctly.

Come morning every subroutine would run properly and the pain would be gone as Starscream accepted his fate. He would embrace his coding and follow where it led him.

After all, he had to talk to a seeker to understand what was going on with him, and what this trine coding, running so deeply inside him meant.

As the sun rose above the horizon, Starscream onlined his optics after a long and disturbing recharge. He had had a rare occurrence among the transformers – a dream. And not just about anyone, no it had had to be about the seekers and one especially. All this talk of the humans’ love must have affected his processor.

Rising on the berth he tried to shake the disturbingly strong pictures still lingering in his mind away before the burning fire from the dream followed him into the real world. He still didn’t understand this burning that seemed to come from the deep feelings and sensations awoken inside him.

“Oh no you don’t!” He heard Ratchet yell at him as he was about the leave the berth completely.

The medic came out of what had become his office and looked at the seeker with a stern glare.

“You are not cleared yet, Starscream. I don’t want a repeat of that close call.” Ratchet told him.

With a sigh he fell back on the berth, knowing when Ratchet wouldn’t budge. It had been a close call after all.

“Just, please, get it done. I need to get out of here. This all feels cramped on me at the moment. I need out.” Starscream pleaded.

“Do I need to know where you are going?” Ratchet asked, stopping for a moment to study the seeker. He hadn’t forgotten his suggestion days back and he still thought it the best way to go. But if he was wrong Starscream could very well end up severely damaged or dead. A shiver traveled his backstrut at the thought.

“I’m not yet sure Ratchet. I feel the last days even as hard as they have been have been good to me. The pain has subsided and is only a faint ache now. I- I don’t need them right away, I can keep my distance. The urge is there to join them, but it isn’t as dominating as when I directly fought against it. I still have to meet up with them, if not for anything then at least for knowledge. You have said it yourself so many times; you aren’t familiar with seekers and haven’t been able to help with some of the major changes in me.” Starscream said, feeling just a slight ping in his spark when talking about stalling his meeting with the other seekers. It was bearable.

Ratchet nodded, and came closer with one of his medical scanners.

“Now sit still.” He ordered as he first scanned Starscreams frame for any lingering damages. When he found none a pleased sound left the CMO.

“You frame is healed. Now to see to your subroutines.” The medic mused. Plugging into the seeker Ratchet got a nasty surprise when he tried to gain access to the subroutines as days before. But where he previously had been able to scroll around in the scrambled subroutines, he instantly was thrown out with so much force that he actually staggered on his pedes and had to find support by the berth to stay up right.

Shaking his helm he looked incredulously at the cable with which he had connected to the seeker. The tip was smoking where circuits had fried when a violent discharge from the seekers firewalls had seared them.  
Looking from the cable to the seeker and then to the cable again, Ratchet showed a peculiar stunned expression.

It was so rare to see the CMO this flustered and Starscream couldn’t hold back his laugh even if the whole incident clearly hadn’t been fun for the medic.

“Think I’m good to go, right Ratch?” he asked, smugness filling his voice.

Scowling at the amused seeker cockily perched on the berth; Ratchet dampened his pain receptors flaring at the damage and motioned for the seeker to get out of his sight.

When the seeker was out the door, Ratchet slumped on the berth exasperated. That seeker kept growing more and more audacious and cheeky. But Ratchet had to admit he like that part of the seekers personality developing. Starscream tended to be isolating himself more and more lately, showing more insecurity. That he at the moment had energy to turn this bold was something that warmed Ratchets spark.

Looking down at the sparking cable forgotten in his moment of sentimentality, he straightened. ‘Right. Better get on with repairs.’

Outside the medbay, Starscream let his wings slump and he leaned against one of the walls in the corridor. Sighing deeply he tried to quell the pings still occurring in his spark. Even if they were bearable they were annoying. ‘I am going. Calm down, I am going. Just not now.’ He tried to sooth the sensations. Feeling the cold surface of the wall against his cheeks was soothing in their own strange way. He felt overtaxed and running hot. Still his HUD showed normal temperature parameters.

Pressing away from the comforting sensation of the wall he steeled himself as he walked to his quarters. He had been honest when he told the medic that the spaceship had begun to feel cramped on him, and he should get out and fly, but now that he was out of the medbay, the energy seemed to leave him and he just wanted to go into recharge. Hopefully this one wouldn’t be haunted by blue seekers. Cursing at the thought he staggered the last few paces to his door and keyed it open.

Lying down on the berth he was in recharge almost instantly.

Six cycles later he woke after a relaxing recharge. Stretching on the berth he felt reenergized. For once he didn’t feel stressed at all. Sure the pings still occurred like a beacon inside his spark, but they weren’t as dominating as before now that he had decided to meet with the seekers. Just, first when he was ready whenever that would be. No matter how much he steeled himself for it however he felt like he never would be.

Licking his lips as he sat on the berth and contemplated what to do, he wondered if he should go for that flight? He felt a slight anxiety at the prospect of flying into one of the seekers during his flight. Still his claustrophobia screamed at him to get out now that he had the energy.

Flexing his wings in annoyance, he rose and keyed the door open. He needed the flight, other seekers be damned.

Finally exiting the spaceship after informing the Prime that he went out flying, he soared into the sky and the rather windy day. Feeling the wind trying to tear him apart the higher he got in the air he let out a happy trill. Playing with the wind he forgot all his troubles and became consumed by the air, the wind and the sight of the ground down below. A cycle passed and he felt that he soon needed to get back to base to refuel before he strained his systems too much by only running on fumes.

Descending towards the ground he suddenly saw a flicker out of the corner of his optics. Turning his helm towards the strange object, he identified a seeker a bit away from him. It just hovered, like watching him as he flew. His spark began to pulse faster and he felt like it was about to breach through his chestplates. Stopping in his descending he waited to see what the other wanted. It wasn’t a seeker he had seen before. This one was green and blue and just the same size as him.

Canting his helm as he watched the green wings twitch nervously, he wondered what was going on.

Then as suddenly as it had appeared it left the area without a sound.

Bemused Starscream resumed his descending to return to base.

Entering the spaceship once again he felt how the flight had done wonders to him. Even with the sight of the other seeker he had had a good time in the sky. Informing the Prime that he was back he joined with the autobots in the rec room of the ship. He for once didn’t want to isolate himself; he was too content to be alone.

“Hey Starscream.” The twins greeted eagerly when he entered. The room was filled with tables all around and mechs either played games or participated in hushed discussions.

Taking a seat beside Sideswipe he relaxed in the presence of his friends.

“How come we haven’t seen you for a while?” the red twin asked.

“Of course you have seen me.” He argued.

“Well, not like this.” Sideswipe pointed out, gesturing to the room. “Not to socialize in here.” He said.

Crossing his arms over his cockpit he shot the twin a glare, when that didn’t deter his friend he let out a sigh and slumped in his seat. “I haven’t been well. With the seekers and all.” He admitted.

“Tch. Don’t worry. We will slag them before they can do anything to you if they come for you again.” Sideswipe cheered, Sunstreaker across the table scowled but nodded in agreement.

“Oh, well thanks, I think.” Suddenly he regretted coming in here. No one would understand his situation. Even among the ten mechs in the rec room he felt isolated and alone. Feeling how his optics began to burn he rose and excused himself as he left the room.

Keying the door to his quarters open he fell to his knees when the door closed and let out the keen which had threatened to leave his vocalizer ever since he left the rec room. Allowing the tears to run he gave in to the despair filling him.

Why did he suddenly feel so alienated to his usual surroundings?

Curling into a ball he let the tears flow as dark thoughts consumed him.

Feeling his systems complain about still running on fumes he groaned. With that high spirit he had had when he returned, he had decided to refuel in the rec room, but when he had gotten there he had completely forgot, with the sudden discomfort there. He had simply fled the room without any though on fuel and now he didn’t feel like going out there to acquire a cube. It was silly, he thought, that he felt fear at the thought of leaving his quarters, but it was true. The fear fought with his need for fuel and won. Slipping into an exhausted recharge to conserve his energy he fled the world of reality.

He was roused a cycle later when loud knocks on his door woke him. Sluggishly he rose on his thrusters and walked to the door. Steeling himself at the wall to keep his balance he keyed it open.

“Oh, hey Ratch. Why you here?” he slurred, seeing his creator standing out in the corridor.

“Stupid. Foolish seeker.” Throwing a cube in Starscreams servo the medic pushed past the seeker and entered the quarters.

“…” giving the medic an empty look he wondered what was wrong. Then he registered the cube in his servo and shrugging began to drink.

Feeling the potent fuel replenish his starving systems he jolted as his systems energized. Absentmindedly keying the door to close he went to the berth where Ratchet already sat, clearly incensed.

His voice already stronger, he had to ask again since his creator hadn’t given a useful answer.

“So, why are you here beyond giving me fuel?” he asked while taking a few gulps of the energon.

“That is the point. What is it with you Starscream? You are never this neglecting. The twins worry for you, as do I and most of the others. What is happening?” Ratchet asked, concern showing behind the harsh tone used.

“I dunno. Don’t feel home. Where is home? What is home? Sky is home, but not home. Ground is home, but not home. Where is home?” the seeker began to blabber out, optics strangely distant.

Listening to Starscream ramble on about home here home there, Ratchet grew more and more worried. It was clear that the seeker was conflicted and confused. He didn’t like Starscream be so deranged and unstable. It almost bordered to insanity. The starving systems clearly had a part, but he had never seen Starscream this out of it.

‘What was going on?’ the medic wondered, watching his creation lose his grip on reality.

“Snap out of it Starscream!” he ordered, slapping the seeker as Starscream began on his blabbered sentence again.

Jostled at the sting of pain to his cheek Starscream looked solemnly at the medic.

“What?!” he asked dumbfounded.

Groaning, Ratchet rubbed his face in exasperation.

“Is it the seekers?” he asked seriously.

“Hmm. Nooooo. It is you, you are different. I don’t feel like home. Where is home?” the seeker responded, optics still distant.

“Is the seekers home?” Ratchet asked, cringing as he began to use the same stupid wording as the seeker.

“Maybe?” Starscream asked more than verified.

“Wanna go see them?” the CMO asked.

“Dunno. Maybe. Can I?” the seeker asked, indifferent.

Sighing, Ratchet nodded. “Yes. No one is holding you back.”

“Only me.” Starscream argued.

“Then let me decide for you this time. You are going to see them even if I have to drag you there and risk getting killed.” With that Ratchet hauled the seeker up from the berth. He was only able to do so, since it seemed Starscream wasn’t able to fight against him at the moment in his unstable state.

“If you say.” The seeker slurred, following the medic out of the room on unsteady thrusters.

“I do.” Ratchet growled, as he dragged the unsteady seeker towards the medbay.

Leaving Starscream on a berth and ordering Firstaid to keep an optic on the seeker and prevent him from leaving, the CMO went to find the Prime. They needed to talk.

Ratchet was sure this had something to do with all the other happenings, and didn’t like that they had to rely on the seekers to get Starscream healthy. Whatever it was it wouldn’t let the seeker go, and it clearly affected Starscream more than he was sure it was intended to do.

Entering the command center he went to the Prime standing by Teletran.

“Prime, I need your help in the medbay.” He told the autobot leader.

“With what Ratchet?” Optimus asked bemused.

“You’ll see soon enough.” The CMO groused motioning for the other to follow him.

When they later arrived at the medbay, loud talking could be heard through the door.

“Is that-“Optimus began to ask, but was interrupted by the medic.

“Yes it is.” Ratchet growled, wondering if the seeker had ruined his medbay while he had been gone.

“What happened?”

“Low fuel levels, and I guess combined with mental stress and taxed out processor it has caused it all to run rampart inside him. Since he talks so much of home, well I guess he is in conflict of which in the future will be his home, here or the seekers. But it all has become jumbled and he can’t set right from left.” Ratchet explained.

“I- I suggest we help him to the seekers.” Ratchet began cautiously to judge the autobot leaders reaction.

“But I thought he got over that troubling coding? Accepting it and all. Is it still affecting him like this?” Optimus asked, bewildered.

“I don’t know. It might be it, or it might be something else, but I am certain that whatever it is, the closeness to the seekers might help him. So again, I suggest we help him to the seekers. I know it is risky and we might never see him again, but I have to do what is best for him even if it kills me to watch him go.” The medic admitted with a deep sigh.

“I trust your judgment Ratchet. There is really nothing you can do?” Optimus asked, serious.

“No. No, I am useless in helping him.” The CMO confessed.

Seeing the pain in the medic’s optics, Optimus patted Ratchet on the shoulder. “Then let us get there. I will locate their location and we will both go with him. I won’t risk you out there alone against the seekers.” Optimus ordered when he saw Ratchet was about to complain.

Parting in the corridor, the Prime strode with purposeful steps back towards the command center while Ratchet watched his leader down the corridor. When Optimus was out of sight the CMO just stood there and looked at the door into his domain. It had never felt so painful to pass through those doors as this moment. He felt a bit of the alienating feeling Starscream had spoken of. When had he ever felt fear for entering his own domain?

Pushing the doors to open, he took a careful glance into the medbay before he gathered himself and walked inside.

To his relief at least Starscream had stopped blabbering on and on about home. It seemed Firstaid had gotten the seeker to down another cube of energon, and it had cleared Starscreams mind just a bit so he wasn’t rambling like a lunatic. Still the optics was distant, like his mind was a whole different place, but still felt his surroundings since the optics locked on Ratchet the instant he came into view of the seeker.

A pain shot through his spark at the sight of his little seeker. It was stronger than the thought of Starscream rejoining his kin, and Ratchet felt a bit calmed at the fact that what he was doing would be the best. Still he felt pain at the prospect of never seeing the seeker again, or even seeing Starscream on the enemy side if it got that far. He didn’t know the seekers or what would happen when Starscream finally faced them.

As the doors opened several breems later, Optimus strode in and with a nod verified that they had located the seekers.

“Time to go I guess.” Ratchet stalled.

“Best before anyone ask questions. I haven’t told anyone we leave. They would be furious. Not least because of what we are going to do. It is best we inform them when Starscream is with the seekers.” Optimus said, grimacing when he had been about to say safe with the seekers. They couldn’t know how well the seeker would be greeted after all.

Together they led the seeker out of the medbay and towards the exit. As they walked through the spaceship the corridors were surprisingly empty. Looking at Optimus Ratchet got a faint nod; the Prime had cleared their path.

It took them a bit to get up from the crack, with Starscream this unstable Ratchet didn’t want him to fly, so it fell upon the Prime supported by the medic to get the seeker up the steep walls. It was hard but they made it. Finally on the surface of the planet Optimus transformed and Starscream was led to his large blue trailer.

While Ratchet worked to get Starscream comfortable inside the trailer, neither the autobots nor the seeker registered the interested onlooker high in the sky.

Before they got any warning, the seeker shot down and landed with a ground shaking impact. When he looked up to see what had happened, Ratchet stopped in every move. The seeker was orange and white, its optics a blazing yellow. Well known in deciphering the mood of a seeker by their optics, having seen Starscream having plenty of angry tantrums, the medic knew that the seeker was enraged. If the optics weren’t enough the trembling flared wings and the bared dentas keyed him in.

At that moment, Optimus’ comm. cracked to life.

“Sir, we got proximity alert at the volcano. It is just a lone seeker. What do you want me to do?” Prowl asked.

“Leave it be. As long as it is alone no harm is coming.” Optimus ordered his voice even. It didn’t do to alert their troops to their own whereabouts. With an acknowledgement Prowl closed the comm. and silence reigned once again.

Sensing the faint tremors in the trailer, he knew Optimus was about to transform. Sending the Prime a comm. he asked for Optimus to stay transformed.

Starscream sensing something from the still faint lingering creation/creator bond peeked out from the trailer and instantly saw the seeker. When the tricolored seeker came into view, the orange and white seeker stalked towards the trailer, snarling. Ratchet wisely backed off from the threatening display as the wild seeker came closer. While the other seeker approached, Starscream just stared dumbly at it. His processor was so muddled and jumbled that he couldn’t comprehend what was going on.

Standing in front of where Starscream was perched halfway inside the trailer, looking around the edge, the wild seeker stopped its approach. Scenting deeply, drawing in the essence of the tricolored seeker its optics flashed almost white with a blinding intensity. When the yellow returned it narrowed its optics and reached for the tricolored seeker, only to stop a mere inch from touching Starscream. To Ratchet’s surprise its optics became a sort of the same distant as Starscreams still was. Then a klik later, the seeker turned abruptly to face him, the optics flashing one final time before it engaged its thrusters and shot into the air. Up there it just hovered, and Ratchet realized that it was waiting for them.

Puzzled he managed to get Starscream comfortably inside the trailer and closed it.

“It seems like we have an escort.” He told the Prime, not knowing if it was a bad or a good thing.

As they made their way towards the location of the seekers, the seeker loomed above the two autobots, and Ratchet felt more threatened by it that soothed. He was sure it was there to make sure they didn’t deviate from the road towards the seekers. He felt foolish for not contemplating the seekers doing something like this, keeping an optic on their base now that they knew of Starscream. If it had been him seeing an autobot being loaded into a trailer by someone he viewed as enemies he would have reacted too. He was quite bemused that the seeker hadn’t attacked them and just silently herded them towards the seekers.

Coming to a rather forested area Ratchet knew they were close. It would be obvious for the seekers to seek out to make a camp at a location like this, looking much like their home on Cybertron. The trees didn’t cover much, but the forest was large. Feeling how the branches of crushed trees ground into his gears he cringed when his altmode bumped through the uneven underbrush of the forest. He would need a through clean up when they returned. If they returned, a dark part of his processor reminded him.

After several breems the seeker above left them, speeding up and vanishing from sight.

At the sight of the seeker leaving, Ratchets spark began to pulse faster and he slowed his advance. Optimus did likewise, knowing that now everything could happen. When silence continued, and no seeker showed for several kliks, the tension in the two autobots grew. What was going on? They had expected the seekers to flock at them.

Coming closer and closer to where they had lost track of the seeker, they suddenly bumped into a large wide clearing. Coming out of the protection of the forest around them and out into the open, Ratchet stopped completely.

Greeting the two autobots was a mesh of colorful seekers, relaxed in their different resting areas. Some was clearly in recharge while some watched them interestingly. None made any threatening advance towards them. It was so strange to see the wild seekers this…peaceful. It was almost like seeing Starscream relaxing outside under the blue sky, soaking in the warmth of the sun.

Then the silence and peace was shattered.

Three seekers emerged from a distance away and cleared the top of the trees in the distance. Circling the clearing two of them landed not far away from where Ratchet and Optimus had stopped, while the last glided slowly towards the group of seekers still not having moved, it was the orange and white seeker.

Ratchet felt fear as the two seekers landing not far from him showed blue and black and purple coloring.

Hidden inside Optimus’ trailer Starscream feels the trails of fear bleeding through his faint bond with Ratchet and when the fear grows stronger and he feel how Ratchet suddenly fills with panic, he reacts. Banging his thrusters at the doors of the trailer he tries to open them, but the metal doesn’t budge. Instead he sort to his laser and shreds them, not caring if he hurts Optimus in the process, at the moment only Ratchet is in his mind as he snaps out of the state he had been in.

Practically flying out of the trailer, the tricolored seeker intercepts the attack coming from Thundercracker aimed at the autobots and they roll around on the ground in front of Ratchet. Coming to a stop with the blue seeker on top of him, Thundercracker snarled angrily down at Starscream, the Winglords fangs going for the tricolored seekers neck before he realize who he has beneath him. Beneath the larger seeker Starscream just tries to deflect what attack the blue seeker attempted, while feeling how his wings had become scratched from their roll on the ground.

Venting as he looks down into bright yellow optics, Thundercracker fells how his spark skips a pulse and he can’t stop the pleased purr leaving his vocalizer.

When Starscream responds with a full frame shiver, feeling how the purr travels through the large blue frame connected to his own, Thundercracker grinds into him, metal screeching as the frames is pushed into each other.

Feeling trapped, pinned beneath the larger seeker and unable to move, Starscream cants his neck, straining the cables to see Ratchet not far away. Filled with angst, fear and despair he keens at his creator, while trying to get free from the blue seeker.

Misinterpreting Starscreams act as an invitation for more, Thundercracker nuzzles the neck bared to him before he begins to nibble at the delicate wires all while continuing the slow grind of his frame in to the seeker beneath him. His arousal is growing, his frame reacting to the wriggling movements of Starscream, as the tricolored seeker tries to get any leverage to remove Thundercracker.

Meanwhile Ratchet is lost. He doesn’t know what to do, if he even has any chance of helping Starscream. As Starscream lets out a piteous wail and flails a servo towards him, his spark almost breaks. Once again he feels useless. Worse, he feels guilty. He was the one to bring Starscream here. He hadn’t imagined what could happen, that this was what the seekers wanted. How could he have known?

As Starscream panics and Ratchet despairs, another spectator narrows his optics looking at the interaction between grounder and the seeker.

Skywarp frowns at the way the seeker reaches for the grounder, wondering what their connection is. As he watches them closer he realizes and recognizes the faint creator/creation bond between grounder and seeker and become confused. A seeker raised by a grounder?

Nevertheless the bond is there and he understands the pain in the optics of the grounder. Having mentally face palmed at Thundercrackers rash action towards the two grounders, and even more now with their future third, he knows that he has to interfere or the seeker is going to be scarred for life, especially if he have been raised by a grounder. The magnitude of what knowledge and understanding of seeker society the seeker lacks hits him and he moves into action.

Gaining Ratchets attention by moving towards the two grounders, he fixes his optics with the troubled creator and tries to convey his understanding. Calm yellow optics meeting panicked blue ones; he holds his wings calm, fanning them slowly. Seeing bemusement entering the blue optics, he smiles to the grounder, trying not to flash his fangs. ‘See, I’m no danger. Just want to help.’ He hoped he conveyed.

Having Ratchets full attention he pointed towards the still struggling Starscream and the oblivious Thundercracker before pointing at Ratchet and then holding one of his servos clenched towards his chest, in front of his sparkchamber. By doing so he acknowledge Ratchets stance with Starscream and hoped that the creator understood that he was going to protect the seeker. Then by flickering his wings, he motions for the grounders to leave.

Conflicted Ratchet isn’t sure if he understands what the seeker tries to tell him. Looking from Starscream still trashing to the calm black and purple seeker, he don’t know what he feels at the gestures. Moving ones servo in front of ones spark usually is a universal way of showing protection, but when he looks at the situation Starscream is in currently, he isn’t sure. The flicker of the wing he understands clearly, reading the gentle dismissal. But could he truly trust this seeker who had been an enemy for so long, with the care of his seeker?

Seeing as he was powerless in doing anything himself, and that they didn’t have the power, no matter how many of their autobots they gathered, to fight of even this small amount of seekers, he knew Starscream was on his own. Nodding to the seeker as the flicker was repeated he turned and motioned for Optimus to follow him.

Seeing Ratchet leaving, Starscream calls out to his creator to not abandon him there. Crying out in a shrilling tone when the autobots continue to leave, Ratchets spark breaks at the sound. His little one is calling for him and he is still leaving.  
Meanwhile Skywarp has moved to crouch beside the distressed tricolored seeker. Locking optics with the seeker as Starscream turns his attention away from the no longer visible autobots; Skywarp sees the fear and angst in the completely unaroused optics. Cooing gently to the seeker, the black and purple seeker tries to calm and sooth the distress and fear.

/No need to fear./ he tells the seeker even as Thundercracker still moves against the unwilling frame, lost in his arousal.

Reaching for the large blue wings of the Winglord, Skywarp trigger the last sensory input before Thundercracker releases his spike. Letting out a shrill scream as he feels the unknown and foreign feeling of the spike pressing against him Starscream begins to trash more violently. Shaking his helm he tries to will the beginning burning sensations away, feeling how it all suddenly catch up with him and his frame begins to react in this strange way.

Looking into the widened optics filled with fear Skywarp stalls no longer. Releasing his valve cover he allows the gathered lubricants to flow from his valve and the scent of it to fill the air. The sudden strong scent of lubricants and a ready valve diverts Thundercrackers attention away from the distressed and barely aroused tricolored seeker and onto Skywarp.

Smiling deviously as he senses the shift in attention he winks down at Starscream just as Thundercracker withdraws from the tricolored seeker, dragging Skywarp in front of him on servos and knees. Looking down at the stunned and perplex seeker beneath him, Skywarp lowers his helm and nuzzles Starscreams cheek gently with his own, the intention only a show of care and affection. Then he lets out a moan as Thundercracker penetrates him in one thrust.

/Going… to be… okay, young one./ the black and purple seeker pants at each thrust from Thundercracker.

At that Starscream become completely still as the black and purple seeker rocks above him with every thrust from the blue seeker.

Even if Starscream was fairly old in age, he still was more like a barely matured seeker. Being in stasis almost his whole life didn’t add to his maturing even if his frame developed and matured. His mind was still more like a youngling seeker than a mature one. He still needed to learn so much about life that Skywarp, only being a few thousand vorns older had learned while Starscream had been in stasis. And Skywarp acknowledged that immaturity in the tricolored seeker as well as Starscream being uneducated in his own kin.

Optics locked, Starscream relaxed as he saw the concern and care hidden behind the glazed over look in the deep yellow optics.

Then he was taken by surprise when the black and purple seeker suddenly flared his wings and the helm shot up while a loud scream sounded from the seekers vocalizer. Echoing the seeker, the blue one joined in a klik later. Scared he watched the two seekers flare above him, and unconsciously curled into himself, away from whatever was happening. It surely didn’t sound pleasant.

Coming down from his overload, Skywarp forced his slack frame to the side to avoid trapping the tricolored seeker. Following him down Thundercracker curled around the back of the black and purple seeker as Skywarp drew the trembling frame of the tricolored seeker into a gentle embrace.

/So, what are you called?/ Skywarp asked sluggishly, wanting to address the seeker correctly.

/S-Starscream./ the seeker stuttered.

/Beautiful. I’m Skywarp, and big and blue is Thundercracker/ the black and purple seeker murmured.

Behind Skywarp, Thundercracker grunted in acknowledge, leaving the talk to Skywarp. He knew he had messed up again and was thankful for his mate defusing his…aaah rather unwise way of greeting their trinemate to be.

At least the seeker hadn’t fled, yet. In fact if he sensed correctly, the tricolored seeker, eh, Starscream currently curled into the embrace of Skywarp. A small smile graced Thundercrackers lips. It might be best if he let Skywarp handle Starscream from now on. He was sure he would get his chance when the time was ready, but he knew he had greatly frightened the seeker and that Starscream was unlikely to trust him for a time. Slipping into recharge where he lay, he let the two submissives enjoy each other’s presence.

/This is nice, isn’t it? You feel okay?/ Skywarp asked.

/Uh, yes feels good. And yeah, I’m okay, I’m okay./ Starscream uttered, then after a moments silence /Well, I feel a bit hot, but I dunno./ he confessed.

/Hot where?/ Skywarp inquired.

/Between my legs?/ Starscream said, unsure.

/Guess he got you affected just a bit then./ Skywarp smiled, rising from the ground, ignoring the grunt from the Winglord.

/Let us go somewhere private, and I shall show you how to deal with it./ Skywarp added to the confused look on Starscream. At the wary optics shot at him he elaborated. /Nothing too wildly, just to cool the feeling./

Leading Starscream away from the clearing and the other seekers, Skywarp gestured for the seeker to sit down when they were far enough away. Then he sat down behind the tricolored seeker and began to stroke his wings gently while explaining.

/It is all normal Starscream. All these feelings, sensations and the burning feeling between your legs is connected to lust. Arousal, simply./ Skywarp cooed as he gently massaged the large expanses of the seekers wings, feeling them tremble at his touch. /I guess you haven’t had anyone touch your wings like I do now?/ the black and purple seeker asked, curious. If that was the case he needed to go slow, or he would cause more pain than pleasure if he overdid the caresses.

/N-No. Not had anyone touch them like you do now./Starscream admitted.

/It is fine. We just go slower then. Try to relax into the sensations in your frame, don’t fight them./ the black and purple seeker adviced, and sensing the wings pressing against his claws as he caressed them he let out a pleased purr in reward.

/Give in. Let it flow. Embrace the feelings. If it becomes too much, use my touch to ground you. I have you, you won’t get lost in the feelings. Just give in./ Skywarp whispered hushed in Starscreams audio.

A whine from Starscream made Skywarp ground his claws firmer into the plating, easing some of the tingling pleasure with a strained pain, not enough to hurt, but enough to erase the uncomfortable heady feelings he knew Starscream had felt.

/Tell me how you feel? Is it good or not enough or too much?/ the black and purple seeker asked, trying to guide Starscream to voice out his needs.

/I-I don’t know. Good? Strange. Feels so hot./ slumping against the other frame at his back he felt comfort in the presence of the other seeker.

/And I’m sure the burning sensation between your legs is growing?/ Skywarp asked, nibbling at the accessible neck cables when Starscream leaned into him.

/Yes./ came the strangled sound.

/Good. That is good. I know it is uncomfortable, but when you learn to know your frame you can deal with it easier before it become this hot and burning down there. Try to relax even more. I know it is hard, but try./ Skywarp explained, flickering his servos against Starscreams extremely sensitive wingtips.

Hearing the loud snick, almost sounding like a gun shot in the silence, Skywarp smiled as he heard the gasp from Starscream.

/That was your valve cover releasing./ the black and purple seeker purred.

Gasping Starscream had looked down at the sound of the snick and the sudden feeling of cold air meeting scorching hot metal. A flood of fluids gathered on the ground beneath him and he felt how the burning sensation eased to a pleasant feeling.

Curious he had to ask /What now?/

/Now I do this./ Skywarp said, and with that he let his glossa travel the edge of one of the wings.

Starscream let out a startled yelp and then moaned as his arousal grew at the stimulation that just felt sooo good suddenly. Without the burning sensation every touch Skywarp did to him felt amazing.

Before long he felt a gathering sensation accumulating in his frame and before he managed to ask about it he was swept away in his first overload. Arching back violently, his wings flaring and optics wide he felt how the overload coursed through him and his whole sensor net was coming alive at the sensation. Coming down from the overload he slumped back and rested against Skywarp.

Cradling the slack frame of the seeker, Skywarp had stopped stimulating the wings as the overload claimed Starscream, not wanting to overdo the pleasure.

/And that was your first overload./ he said, and smile evident in his tone.

Nuzzling Starscream gently as the seeker relaxed in his post overload haze, avoiding the wings and any other part which would be sensitive after the overload, the two seekers relaxed.

/You know, he isn’t that bad./ Skywarp broke the silence /Just a bit too eager at times, and his libido./ the black and purple seeker shook his helm.

Feeling the tension in Starscream at the mentioning of Thundercracker, Skywarp tightened his hold.

/He won’t take you before you are ready, and not before you are trine./ Skywarp added for comfort.

Perking at the mentioning of trine, Starscream looked up at Skywarp. /Trine?/

A smile grew on the black and purple seekers face. /Yes. Trine. Our third to complete us. Me and Thundercracker has been without you for so long we are so happy you are finally here. With a trine, home is everywhere they are. Our trines are our homes, without the two seekers to complete us, making us into our very own trine we are never home. It means so much to us that you are here finally./ Skywarp explained his voiced filled with emotions.

/Never going to let you go, always there to protect you, take care of you./ cradling the shivering Starscream closer he purred the words into the seekers audio.

/B-But my creator?/ Starscream asked, his voice crackling with unease. ‘Wasn’t he allowed to return to Ratchet at all now?’

But his fears was all for naught.

/We aren’t going to keep you from him, even if he is a grounder. How come that happened?/ Skywarp asked curious.

/My carrier died just as I was birthed. Ratchet, creator tried to save him when rouge eh grounders had attacked him and removed his wings and left him to die. I sort of always have had my bond to him and to Hound, my other creator, but Hound has grown distant over time. Only Ratchet I feel connected to now./ Starscream explained solemnly, but relieved that he wouldn’t be kept from Ratchet.

/Grounders./ Skywarp sighed calmly, even as he bristled inside. ‘Grounders had almost killed their trinemate before he had been birthed?!’

/More questions? If not, let’s recharge. Don’t have to meet up with the others to do so, just stay here. Thundercracker will know where we are./ Skywarp said, moving to lay down beside Starscream and allowing the tricolored seeker to curl into him if Starscream wanted.

Snuggling closer to the black and purple frame he rested relaxed as he listened to the other seeker slowly cycling down. He already began to feel that home Skywarp had talked about.

Moments later he was gone in his own recharge, a smile on his lips and one of his wings overlapping one of Skywarps.

Wakening up a few cycles later, Skywarp was still gone in recharge. Savoring the closeness of the black and purple seeker he curled firmer into the warm plating. Just onlining his optics for a second to see their surroundings his gaze fell on a large blue frame a bit away. Even if there were some distance between the two entwined seekers and the lone seeker he was unable to miss the large wings sticking up above that of his vision Skywarps frame covered.

Lifting his helm his optics met relaxed orange, and he didn’t know what to do.

Skywarp was still clearly far gone.

Shivering as he recalled what had happened cycles before with the blue seeker, fear suddenly gripped his spark.

Seeing the fear in Starscreams optics, Thundercracker let out a small laugh filled with mirth.

/No need to fear Starscream. I am not here to do anything to you. I’m just doing what my role in the trine is, protecting you. I, ah, apologize for earlier. We have longed for you for so long, and to suddenly have you there, and under me… touching me…/ the blue seeker trailed off, breaking their optic contact and looking away ashamed.

Taking a chance, since the seeker surely didn’t seem so threatening now, not with those sparkling optics mirroring the same care he had seen in Skywarps, Starscream undid himself from Skywarp and slowly walked to where Thundercracker relaxed.

Sitting down a bit away from the large blue seeker, he let his optics travel the frame of the other seeker. It was so different from Skywarps, and Starscreams own. It was so larger, sturdier and stronger. This close he could see the massive cables in the joints and looking down at himself he found Thundercrackers double the size. Awed he fought the urge to touch.

Licking his lips unconsciously, he slowly gathered his courage.

/Your frame, why is it larger than mine, than Skywarps?/ he asked curious.

/I see Skywarp is right, you don’t know much about your own people./ Thundercracker frowned. Then he nodded in acknowledgement of the question. /I am a dominant Starscream. A dominant is the part of the trine that protects and defends the two other members from any harm. You Starscream, as well as Skywarp is submissives. Where I as a dominant am larger, favoring strength and stamina, submissives are smaller, faster, more agile and delicate in build./ Thundercracker explained.

/So, if you are my protector, then what am I to be in the trine?/ Starscream asked curious.

Rising on his thrusters, Thundercracker motioned for Starscream to stay as the blue seeker walked to where Skywarp rested. Knowing that he was about to do something foolish, he pried the carriers cockpit open and withdrew the chirring seekerling. Then turning to the tricolored seeker, he showed the little seeker.

/This is your main purpose. Giving life./Thundercracker explained, nuzzling the seekerling gently with his claws.

As Thundercracker walked to him still holding the seekerling, Starscream stared stunned.

Holding his servo towards Starscream, motioning for the seeker to fold his own, Thundercracker gently placed the seekerling in Starscreams trembling servos.

Looking down at the translucent being held in his own servos, Starscream found his optics locked with the little seekerling, seeing it canting its head, like gauging who he was. As it slowly nestled into his warm plating, Starscream felt his gaze fixed as his spark pulsed in a strange joy at the sight in his servos.

/It-It is so delicate. Have I really been this small?/ he asked awestruck, his gaze not lifting from the seekerling. He remembered Ratchet talking about his very first vorns, but never had he realized he had been this small and vulnerable.

Thundercracker laughed a humorous laugh. /Yes, even I./ he confirmed.

/This is the youngest of Skywarps creations. I will always be the creator, Starscream. You or Skywarp will be the carriers, and together we are meant to raise them, care for them and each other. But the creation part can wait until it become necessary to explain, since I’m sure Skywarp is a lot more skilled in explaining THAT./ There were a certain glint in Thundercrackers optics as he said that and Starscream was about to ask, but a sound from the seekerling drew his thoughts away from whatever question he had wanted to ask.

Feeling the seekerling nibbling at his claws he looked at Thundercracker.

/What is it doing?/ he asked.

/Seems like it is hungry. Let me show you how to release a feeding line./ the dominant suggested.

Showing Starscream the small unnoticeable lines at the tips of his claws, Starscream learned to withdraw one of them and to his surprise flexible tubing emerged from the tip.

The seekerling chirped happily at the sight and tried to wriggle towards the tubing.

/When it latches onto it, the energon will begin to flow automatically/ Thundercracker explained.

Absentmindedly Starscream helped the seekerling to the line and gasped when he felt it tug onto it and the flow of energon running. Feeling a peculiar sensation filling his frame, lulling him into a docile state, he didn’t know when Thundercracker had sat down beside him or when the blue seeker had scooped him into a tight embrace, he just suddenly found himself looking up into the orange optics seeing emotions filling them.

/Mine./ Thundercracker whispered hushed as he lowered his helm to nuzzle the submissive in his lap.

With the servo not feeding the seekerling, Starscream touched the lowered helm and felt a pleased thrumming coming from Thundercracker at the touch.

Then their moment of whatever it had been was shattered by a loud bellow.

/THUNDERCRACKER!/ Skywarp stood incensed and looked at them.

Breaking optic contact dominant and submissive looked to the now awake Skywarp and Thundercracker knew what the reason to Skywarps ire was.

/Better let him have the seekerling back./He whispered to Starscream, gently taking the seekerling out of the tricolored seekers servo.

Thundercracker rose, careful to not dump Starscream too harshly on the ground as he did so. Holding his servo with the seekerling towards Skywarp he walked relaxed to the enraged carrier. He knew he shouldn’t have done it, but what better way to explain Starscreams importance?

Snatching the seekerling from his mate, Skywarp at the same time swiped a claw at one of Thundercrackers wings. It didn’t do to show too much violence in front of the still uneducated Starscream, but he wasn’t letting Thundercracker do this AGAIN without at least some punishment.

Ignoring the sting of pain, Thundercracker shrugged off the slight punishment and shot Starscream a smirk. /Don’t mess with a carrier’s creation without the carriers consent./ he explained to the stunned seeker.

/Fragger./ Skywarp growled at the blue seeker.

The rest of the day was just as interesting for Starscream. In one human day he learned more than he had known for his whole life and began to understand some of the small unvoiced rules among the seekers, seekers who he was slowly becoming a part of even if he didn’t realize the small transitions happening.

Seeing Skywarp and Thundercracker interact, he felt more and more at ease with the two seekers, and the fear he had had for Thundercracker was almost nonexistent after he had seen Skywarp swipe at the large blue seeker, sneer at him, and growl menacingly when Thundercracker went too far at moments, and the dominant didn’t do anything, just took whatever Skywarp dished out.

Relaxing as the sky began to darken; the seekers were cuddled in a pile with Thundercracker in the middle and Starscream and Skywarp on either side of him. Sighing in deep content, Starscream lay and relaxed his helm at Thundercrackers neck.

Then as the night consumed the planet he rose and knew he had to head home. He was sure Ratchet was a nervous wreck and he wouldn’t stay and do worse to his creator. Their parting had been quite… well yeah. Grimacing at the thought he shook it away. He had forgiven Thundercracker somewhat for his eh eagerness in the moment, as long as it didn’t happen again, he would be forgiven.

/Hmm? Starscream?/ Skywarp asked tired.

/Need to get back to creator./ he told the black and purple seeker, meeting the yellow optics in the dark.

A rumble sounded from Thundercracker at that, it was clear that the dominant wasn’t pleased with letting him go, and the servo taking a hold of him, larger than Skywarps clearly showed that Thundercracker was intent on keeping him there.

/I need to. Please?/ his voice shock at the prospect of suddenly being held away from his creator.

/Thundercracker. He need to. Feel him thickheaded brute, he isn’t going to stay away./ Skywarp scolded, sensing the dominant’s intent in their sparkbond.

The grip lightened and Starscream let out a sigh of relief.

/I’m going to follow you there then./ Thundercracker growled.

Moments later dominant and submissive were in the air, leaving Skywarp behind to travel the short way back to the rest of the group of seekers. The carrier was too spent to take flight.

Arriving above the volcano, Thundercracker dragged Starscream into a fierce embrace.

/MINE./ he growled as he crushed their frames together.

Whimpering Starscream slumped in the fierce hold and succumbed to Thundercrackers dominance.

Satisfied, Thundercracker let go and steadied the tricolored seeker until Starscream could keep himself afloat again and slowly descend towards the volcano and the crack at the bottom of the mountain. Before he vanished down into the crack he looked one last time up at the sky and the hovering blue seeker, only seeing the fire from the burning thrusters.

Then he let the earth consume him.


	28. Chapter 28

Landing outside the spaceship, Starscream keyed the entrance open and as the doors slowly slid open he sighed and replayed the day’s events. With a smile he entered when the entrance was large enough to allow his wings.

Walking down the corridor he was lost in his own pleasurable thoughts of the day and didn’t notice the silence reigning the spaceship. First when he came to his quarters and keyed them open, did he know something was wrong.

There on his berth with a pained expression on his face lay his creator.

Walking into the room, his gaze fell on two empty cubes lying at the end of his berth, a third lay spilling its content on the floor.

Kneeling down and examining the shimmering blue content of the cube not currently pooling on the floor, he hissed when he tasted the high grade on his lips. It explained the stained floor where the fuel had been spilled. High grade was pure poison, toxic to a mechs system if ingested in larger amounts, and to Starscreams knowledge Ratchet had never been one for the stuff. That his creator had downed three, no two and a half gauging the spill on the floor… The seeker shook his helm. He remembered well Ratchets lectures about the abuse some mechs put their frames through by drinking high amounts of the stuff. He had never though that his creator would be one to indulge in it, hearing all the preaches from the medic to not do so.

“Oh, Ratchet. Why did you do this?” he asked the unconscious mech sadly.

-Flash back: Ratchets return-  
Slumped in Starscreams now vacant quarters, Ratchet tried to console himself with reality. He had lost his creation. When they had departed from the spaceship he had thought it the right thing to do, to take his seeker to his kin, but now? Now he felt alone. He felt grief grip at his spark as it had, ever since he had turned his back on the pleading cries Starscream had called out to him with when out there in the forest. How could he have abandoned the seeker like that?

Looking down at his servos holding the cube, he lifted it to his lips and gulped down a large amount of the highly potent high grade he had demanded of Wheeljack the instant he stepped his pedes inside the spaceship. This was his third cube of the crude stuff and he knew he should stop drinking, but as the guilt still lingered in his spark he continued consuming the stuff to drown out all the feelings fighting inside him. He had never been one for high grade, knowing how degrading to a mechs system the volatile fuel could be, but now he didn’t care. That Optimus hadn’t even argued when he requested the fuel was telling in itself, the Prime had been silent all the way home and hadn’t even addressed him with the damages Starscream had done when blasting his trailer doors open.

Heck Ratchet hadn’t even been by the medbay after he returned, instead he had closed himself inside the seekers quarters and had turned to sulk alone in his misery.

‘Oh, Starscream can you ever forgive me?’ he wondered.

Feeling despair taking a hold of his spark, the cube fell from his servo and clattered on the floor spilling its content, the fuel sizzling and already eroding away the layers of the floor. Looking down at the puddle of energon mixed metal substances bubbling viciously, all he saw was his seeker trapped under the large blue one, the very seeker who was solely responsible for most of the destruction on their cities, who ordered the seekers to attack them and who almost had driven the autobots to extinction. Granted it was controlled by Megatron, but still, the evilness that particular seeker was capable of surely wasn’t solely due to the control Megatron held over it? He was sure that Starscream already had been killed, the promise from the other seeker be damned. What could one seeker do, when it was THAT seeker attacking Starscream?

As the high grade entered his systems the medic became more and more delusional and it came as a blessing when the potent fuel finally knocked out his processor and he entered a forced recharge while his systems tried to negate the negative effects of the fuel.  
-End Flash back-

Unable to do anything in the current situation, Starscream gently lay down beside the medic and cradled his creator to his frame. Feeling how his systems demanded recharge, he forcefully denied them. He would stay awake and guard the medic until Ratchet roused from the processor damaging charge the high grade had caused. He would not let anything happen to his creator now that he was there, and even if he regretted leaving the pleasant company of Skywarp and Thundercracker, he was filled with relief that he had chosen to come back instead of staying with the seekers.

Relaxing down beside the frame running hot as the systems fought the negative effects of the high grade he tuned in on Ratchets spark pulse and felt comfort in the at least steady spark he felt.

Guarding the medic even as the sun rose above the horizon and his systems felt fatigued by the lack of recharge he stubbornly held the much needed recharge at bay. Only when Ratchet woke would he allow his systems to cycle down.

When Ratchet finally began to stir after ten cycles of recharge, Starscream breathed a sigh of relief. That the medic was coming out of recharge was a good sign. He knew from the lectures done by the very same medic that sometimes mechs didn’t wake at all from the high grade induced poisoning. Most of those had not been used to the high grade and as Ratchet was one of those, the medic could as well have become one of the statistics.

Gently moving the medic to lay on his back, Starscream waited for the blue optics to online. Holding an expression of worry he hoped Ratchet would be okay.

When the optics finally onlined, but showed a faint blue almost white color the worried expression turned to one of deeply concern. Digging through his memories, he tried to remember what Ratchet had told him about high grade poisoning. He knew he had did well to guard the medic, and not force Ratchet to purge the content of his tank, at that moment it had already been too late to do that, and the purging would just cause more damage to the medics intakes when the toxic fuel came in contact with it again.

What was it Ratchet had teached him back then?

High grade was poison, it was toxic. Check.

Keep watch. Check.

Avoid purging. Check.

And…?

Oh yes, top the mechs tank on regular or low grade when the mech woke, since the high grade wasn’t useful fuel and tended to starve ones systems.

With a worried glance at the medic, not really wanting to leave his creator in that state, he rose and went for the door to find some energon for the medic.

When he moments later came back to his quarters he let out a sigh when Ratchet still were there, venting, his spark pulsing, however maybe a bit too fast, and his optics was still online but unseeing.

Sitting down beside the medic he gently scooped Ratchet up to rest at his free arm and held the cube with fresh low grade energon to the medic’s lips. Tipping it slightly to allow the fuel to run down the intakes slowly he smiled when Ratchet coughed a little before swallowing the fuel.

Reflexes. Check. He noted in his mind.

Slowly emptying the cube and feeling how the systems in the frame held close to him began to thrum, he sagged, emotions running rampart inside him. Putting away the empty cube, he held the medic in his arms, embracing Ratchet and tightening the grip while murmuring into the helm.

“Why did you do it?” he asked. He hadn’t expected a response, not this early in the recovering, but Ratchet mumbled something incoherent.

“Relax. Don’t strain your systems. Just… let me hold you.” He whispered to the medic.

To his relief Ratchet entered a relaxed recharge while held and feeling his own system demanding, he lay down with a sigh, knowing that the worst part was over and Ratchet just needed to regain his energy.

Following the medic he cradled his creator in a tight embrace and entered recharge.

When Ratchet woke cycles later, he didn’t know where he was. His processor was sluggish and his frame felt numb and sore at the same time. When he tried to move he found that something held him and he fought to get free from that something. But no matter what he did he wasn’t able to gather the strength to free himself from the grip on his frame. Trying to online his optics to see what or who it was, his vision was one blurry image and he was only able to see a frame and faintly register some colors, red and blue.

That could be anyone.

Trying to voice out a protest the only sound escaping his vocalizer was a strained groan and gave up.

Then the frame of the other began to move and when it spoke he was sure he hallucinated. Starscream?

“Relax Ratchet. Let your systems recalibrate.” Starscreams voice told him, and he felt a strange sensation when registering the words. Was that caresses to his cheek? Unknown to the medic energon tears had begun to flow down his face at the sound of the seeker.

Trying to say something again, he became frustrated when again he only managed a groan.

‘Frag it’ he needed to see but couldn’t, he needed to say something but he couldn’t and he needed to really touch the frame before he could be sure this wasn’t just a hallucination but he fragging had no such strength.  
“I know Ratchet. I know. It is me. I will tell you everything when you are better, but now you need to let your systems realign and recalibrate. You know how high grade affects mechs.” The seeker said, sounding just slightly disappointed with the last words.

And for once Ratchet did as told, and relaxed, letting the seeker take care of him. Even if it turned out to be a hallucination, it felt nice to have the seeker around. With that he entered recharge again to let his systems normalize.

Coming out of recharge again, he remembered the seeker instantly and his optics onlined to look around frantically, only to show him a disappointingly empty room. Defeated he lay back again and offlined his optics.

‘Oh how he had hoped.’

Then the door swooshed as someone keyed it open.

Looking up, expecting it to be some autobot he just stared at the telling wings on the mechs back. Could it really be true?

Smiling as he walked into the quarters carrying two cubes, Starscream sat down beside the stunned medic.

“Drink.” The seeker ordered, handing Ratchet one of the cubes.

Instead of aiming to take the cube out of the offered servo, Ratchet grabbed onto the arm, and held tight, needing the comforting touch to tell him it was really true. His seeker was home, but how?

“How?” he asked, his voice weak.

Starscreams smile grew wider.

“I returned last night. I have been with you through your high grade induced poisoning since then. Ratchet, why did you do it?” A frown occurred on Starscreams face, clearly showing his disdain with what Ratchet had done.

“I thought I had lost you. With how it all turned out I was sure you were dead. I am sorry I took you there. I shouldn’t have.” Ratchet told the seeker.

But instead of agreeing with him, Ratchet found the seeker shaking his helm.

“I am happy you took me there. I have learned so much.” He smiled. “And I actually like my trine to be.” He added, blushing as he recalled all the events happening in the short time he had been there. Granted Thundercracker had been quite a mouthful but when the dominant calmed down he was such pleasant company. And Skywarp. They were his home. And he longed to see them again.

“And the best part, Ratch. They aren’t keeping me away from you. I intend on staying here with you as much as I can while meeting them now and then. My family is just growing, not separating.” The seeker smiled to the confused look on Ratchets face.

While Starscream comforted his creator, the spaceship had suddenly come to life. The mere sight of the seeker gathering the two cubes of energon from the rec room where mechs had sulked in depressed states after the Primes official statement as he and Ratchet had returned had caused them all to stare and follow the frame stunned. When Starscream was out of the room again, all too concerned for his creator to really notice anything, loud murmuring at the tables had been heard and the news of the seekers return spread like a wildfire.

Optimus who had had to handle the aftermath of his statement as well as the outcry from his troops felt relief when the news finally reached him.

The Prime had had a hard day ever since they had returned from the seekers. Not only had it been impossible to hide that they had been away, since Optimus sported damages from when Starscream had blasted his trailer doors open, but Prowl had found out he had been gone and had been waiting for him the instant he entered into the spaceship.

At the sight of his damages, unwanted questions had been asked and he found himself unable to lie. With the state Ratchet was in he was sure they would find out sooner than later, and wasn’t it better to tell the truth instead of the troops coming up with half true guesses on their own?

So he had decided to inform them all of what they had done, leaving out how it all had went as he was sure that if they knew how frightened Starscream had been when Optimus and Ratchet left, his troops would disregard any order to not try and get the seeker back. Even without the hard facts some had been enraged enough to suggest such a move, among the supporters to that idea he had found the twins.

Luckily Prowl had stepped up then and told them the chances for such a move to success, and the low percentage and the severe casualties listed had been enough to shut any more talk of rescuing the seeker up.

Still, when the mechs left the rec room after the official statement, the atmosphere had been cold and he had received not a few glares showing the betrayal they felt.

Slumping behind his desk as a stern Prowl had been by to tell him the good news, holding his helm in his servos; he let out a relieved sigh. He knew it wouldn’t be enough for his troops to forgive him for what he had done, but at least they now could move forward. But first he needed to express his guilt to the seeker and apologize for what he didn’t do out there against the seekers.

That he had been motionless while the seeker he had vowed to protect had been attacked by his kin had been unforgiveable, but he had been too stunned and unable to see what he could do to defuse the situation. He had felt that if he transformed, it would be that little part to push the seekers too far and risk an outright attack on themselves and Starscream instead of the brawling of the two seekers on the ground. And that wouldn’t have helped the seeker. Neither had his passiveness but at least the violence hadn’t escalated.

Sighing deeply he hoped Starscream, even if he couldn’t forgive him, at least would listen to his apology.

The seeker kept to his quarters the rest of the day and only when he went to get more fuel did the autobots see him. This time he was more aware and saw their intense stares. Ignoring them and all attempts on conversation he went back to his quarters and Ratchet. Creation and creator had had some deep conversations where Starscream tried to tell Ratchet about what he had learned among the seekers.

When he had told the medic that he intended to return to the seekers regularly, Ratchet had protested loudly and clung to him in a way that had Starscream shocked. But it worked; the seeker hadn’t been able to deny the pleaded request Ratchet had voiced for him to stay.

But no matter how much Ratchet pleaded, Starscream knew he had to leave at some point. Still every time he brought it up Ratchet pleaded to him in the same way, and it took some time for him to grow immune to the piteous sight, which was why when he finally left the space ship to travel to the forest, almost two weeks had passed since his return.

Breaking away from the ground as he shot up from the crack in the ground, he gained altitude and began to scan for any presence of seekers. He remembered the seeker vaguely from when Ratchet and Optimus had taken him to the seekers and guessed that there would also be one there now. He just needed to find it.

But he needn’t worry. The instant he reached above 20.000 ft. he felt the presence. The seeker was gaining in on him fast and he transformed and hovered, waiting.

When the seeker was a mere few hundred meters away he saw the colors clearly. This one was a pleasant combination of dulled grey and fiery red, the tetrajet approaching having waves of the colors along its sides imitating that of fire and smoke.

As the seeker slowed down, coming as close as only a dozen feet away from where Starscream hovered, it transformed and revealed a rather large seeker. Starscream saw the same sturdiness in it as Thundercracker, and guessed that I must be a dominant.

Unsure of how to proceed, he waited for the unknown seeker to act.

And it did, by to his surprise bow its helm slightly and present itself.

/Greetings Wing Third of the Winglord trine. My designation is Crossfire, I am here to escort you, if you allow?/ Crossfire formally addressed Starscream, not knowing that the new seeker knew nothing about Thundercrackers position in their society and ignoring the fact that Starscream wasn’t officially trined to the Winglord.

Something in Starscream caused his frame to tremble violently at the mentioning of the Winglord. Something in the title caused something in him to react, even if he didn’t understand the meaning of the title.

As the silence from the tricolored seeker grew, Crossfires wings began to twitch as the dominant wondered if he had done something wrong. He hadn’t been told anything about the seeker in front of him; even Skywarp had kept silent ever since Starscream suddenly had appeared in their midst by the courtesy of two grounders no less.

Since then no one had seen the seeker after Skywarp had led it away from the group and the recharging Thundercracker. That Thundercracker at a point had left too, and hadn’t been seen for some time afterwards had had them wondering what was going on.

When Skywarp returned without Thundercracker and then the Winglord returned alone from where he had been, glances had been shared, but the pair said nothing.

First when tension and agitation clearly showed in the pair, as days passed into weeks without any sight of the new seeker did some begin to wonder. 

Could it really be?

All the signs were there and the Winglords strong reaction to the new seeker would make sense. As would the pairs secrecy, even if this amount of secrecy was strange. Usually the group would have been introduced to the future Winglord Third by now.

So, not knowing that Starscream was no ordinary seeker, Crossfire did as tradition asked of him, even if he was just a bit too formally.

The reaction of the tricolored seeker had him puzzled, and he waited for the seeker to do or say anything. So far all he got was stiff rigid wings and no movements at all. It was strange.

Starscream didn’t know what was wrong with him.

He felt tense, nervous, and about ready to flee from the area, something he didn’t understand. He had been so at ease with Skywarp and Thundercracker. Why did he react like this suddenly?

Rebooting his vocalizer as he felt it was about the short out on him as he tried to online it to respond, he gulped in air to cool his suddenly stressed systems.

/Winglord?/ he asked, almost squawking even after having rebooted his vocalizer.

With his word, motion entered his frame again, and his wings began to tremble, showing his agitation and nervousness.

Canting his helm, Crossfire studied the seeker in front of him.

/Winglord./ the dominant confirmed. /The one who leads us. Your dominant and future trinemate Thundercracker./ Crossfire explained.

/T-Thundercracker?/ Starscream stuttered in shock.

Crossfire just nodded as he looked into the others optics, seeing confusion and sudden fear.

/You didn’t know? He didn’t tell you?/ the dominant asked, a slight fear of his own filling his spark. He hoped he hadn’t messed with something he shouldn’t have by revealing this information if Thundercracker had kept silent.

Starscream shook his helm as he went over what had happened when he had been with the blue seeker. No, Thundercracker hadn’t said anything. But why? Surely that was an important bit of information. But then again, had he really been ready to get that bit of information with all that had happened at that time?

No. He had to confess.

It might have caused him to distance himself from the seeker instead of embracing the closeness that had felt so natural.

Shaking his helm to rid it of all the thoughts threatening to overtake his mind, he turned to Crossfire.

With renewed determination he quelled the fears and nodded to the dominant.

/I’m Starscream./ he finally answered the initial greeting from the other seeker.

/Very well, Starscream Winglord third, may I escort you to your future trine?/ Crossfire asked, a smile gracing his lips.

/Yes./ was the curt answer and with that Starscream transformed before shooting off towards the forest.

Gasping at the speed Starscream was able to pull, Crossfire hurried to transform and fire his engines to their max to reach up beside the tricolored seeker.

The dominant had wondered why Thundercracker had sent him to keep optics on the grounders hiding beneath the ground, but now as he chased Starscream to keep up with the seeker, he understood. Starscream seemed strangely uneducated in seekers and among their current group, Crossfire was the most levelheaded not counting the Winglord or his mate.

That the seeker had emerged from the ground where the grounders lived was intriguing in itself. It seemed the tricolored seeker held some secrets. He was curious, but knew not to ask. If he was to know Thundercracker would inform him.

After all, all that mattered was that the Winglord finally would have a complete trine.

Before he knew it they had reached the forest, and he became aware that he had forgot to warn Starscream of something important. As the clearing in the middle of the forest came up ahead, and the tricolored seeker overflew the area he cringed at the sight of the blue frame shooting up from the ground. Cursing himself for forgetting to warn the seeker about the Winglords foul mood, he hoped Starscream would be able to deflect most of Thundercrackers attack.

A loud yelp rang out the area from the submissive as Thundercracker painfully graced his wingtip, and Starscream barely managed to avoid getting rammed by the emerging blue seeker.

After that incident Starscream powered his engines aborting his intended landing and kept a wide distance to the other seeker as Crossfire came down for a landing on the ground beside an equally incensed Skywarp who glared up at the two seekers in the air.

/You’re not going to do anything?/ Crossfire heaved, as he cooled his systems from the pressure it had been to keep up with the tricolored seeker.

/What can I do?! I’ll be just as slagged as Starscream if I interfere in this./ Skywarp growled, clearly displeased.

/I just don’t think he knows./ Crossfire added, referring to Starscream.

/Of course he don’t./ Skywarp snarled. After a few kliks the black and purple seeker added. /But you try telling that to Thundercracker when he is this riled and controlled by coding. You know how you are yourself when one of yours steps out of line. And it has been fragging two weeks. Thundercracker was about to really believe that he wouldn’t come back./

/I am sure he has a reason./ Crossfire tried.

/It isn’t me you should tell that to, Crossfire. As I said, I can do nothing in this. He just… has to take this as something else to learn from. And don’t worry too much, I know Thundercracker is angry, but at least he is here finally. He just need to learn the consequences./ Skywarp sighed, not taking his optics away from the chase going on in the air.

So far Starscream had managed to stay ahead of the blue seeker, but his energy reserves was thinning and he wouldn’t be able to keep the distance for much longer with his systems put under this much stress; it burned his fuel reserves far too fast.

When his engine finally spluttered, the fumes left not enough to keep it online, the seeker automatically transformed to root mode and fought to keep his thrusters ignited. When those also refused to stay online and he began his descend towards the ground, he panicked.

But before Starscream managed to fall more than hundred ft. Thundercracker swept down gracefully and closed around the tricolored seeker in a tight embrace looking sternly into the panicked yellow optics. Trembling and scared out of his processor, not knowing what he had done to anger the blue seeker, Starscream hid his helm in the hot plating of the dominant as they came down to land on the ground.

With both seekers firmly on the ground, Skywarp strode to his mate and rapped one of his clawed servos at one of the wings.

/Let him go./ the black and purple seeker growled, ignoring the narrowing orange optics.

Instead of doing so, Thundercracker strode purposefully away from the clearing, towards the spot where they had been those weeks ago, alone and away from the rest of the seekers. In his arms he carried the stunned and energy depleted tricolored seeker.

With an exasperated sigh Skywarp followed the departing Winglord.

/Crossfire, get us if anything happens./ the black and purple seeker called back to the gathered group before he went out of sight.

When he intercepted the Winglord, Thundercracker had already laid the weakened Starscream on the ground and was sitting calmly beside the tricolored seeker. But the calm was only a façade Skywarp knew, he could feel how Thundercracker was filled with emotions. Among them was the need to discipline the seeker for staying away.

Skywarp had to admit he was impressed by his mate. He had thought that Thundercracker would carry onto disciplining the seeker the moment he had Starscream on the ground, but there he was, sitting and fighting against his coding.

With a purr he draped himself over the wide blue wings and fondled them gently as he nibbled at the neck. A responding purr from Thundercracker had him encouraged and he let his lips travel the crook at the neck licking at cables and wires here and there. In the meantime he had his optics fixed on Starscreams dimmed ones. It had been some of a flight the seeker had performed to avoid Thundercracker and Skywarp had liked what he had seen. A fast and skilled flier was desirable to every seeker, and Starscream was extremely fast and capable in the sky.

The Trine Challenge would be spectacular, he was sure.

When Starscreams optics lit fully again, he stopped in his fondling of Thundercracker and turned his full attention to the tricolored seeker.

When Starscream began to move, one of his servos rubbing his helm and a groan leaving his vocalizer, Thundercracker lost his fight against his coding. Not that Skywarps caresses had helped him much in controlling himself.

Rolling on top of the tricolored seeker, he got Starscreams full attention instantly. With frightened optics the tricolored seeker looked up into the still stern gaze of the dominant.

/Thundercracker…/ Starscream began, but were silenced by a menacing growl.

/You are mine. MINE!/ Thundercracker snarled, his fangs visible and his gaze smoldering behind the sternness.

Blinking and unsure what to do or say Starscream just lay stock still.

When his gaze wandered to Skywarp, Thundercracker ran a claw down one of his wings, causing him to hiss in pain and turn his attention back to the dominant again.

Whimpering as the claw didn’t leave his wing but dug firmer into it as time passed between the two seekers, Starscreams processor spun wildly to come up with what Thundercracker wanted from him. When kliks turned to a breem and he still had no clue he just gave up and went slack beneath the dominant. When doing that his helm fell back and he naturally bared his neck to the blue seeker.

A klik later a squeal left his vocalizer when Thundercracker licked his neck cables, nibbling and fondling the sensitive wires with lips and glossa. As he unconsciously bared more of his neck, a hum left the dominant and the claw left his wing.

Relaxing and baring his neck completely, lolling his helm to the side, he just laid there and opened himself to Thundercracker.

With the move his energon line in the neck became completely bared and before Thundercracker pounced on him to punish, the Winglord shared a glance with a pouting Skywarp. Then he brought down his fangs and dentas on the line and added pressure.

A strangled howl of pain left Starscreams vocalizer. He had been lulled into a feeling of safety at the pleasurable nibbling and licking to not expect this sudden pain from his neck. Struggling under Thundercracker, he tried to get the dominant to stop, but instead the pressure just grew and with it the pain. Flashing his claws, racking them down Thundercrackers frame he heard him hiss at the stinging pain, but didn’t relent one bit.

When he tried to move his helm a warning growl left the dominants vocalizer and he stilled, his processor finally catching up with him in the haze of pain.

‘Right, moving my helm while he does that to my fuel line is a bad idea.’ He realized.

‘Then maybe?’ He wondered, remembering something Sarah had talked about back at the spaceship during the last few weeks when he had tried to explain to her what it was he felt and what it seemed the trine would be for him.

He had found the word she had used strange, kissing. But it seemed to be a gesture the humans used rather frequently and mostly among mates, which was why it had come up, since she stubbornly claimed that he now had a mate or two. He had been equally stubborn and said that he did not; scandalized at her leering when he had finished his explanation.

Ratchet had had to break them apart and had calmly explained that kissing wasn’t performed between cybertronians, and an argument among the human and medic had begun whether the transformers would react just like the humans or have no reaction at all to kisses. When Sarah had challenged Ratchet to find out he had bellowed in outrage, and that had been the end of the discussion since the medic then turned to ignore the humans.

Now it seemed she would get her test.

Licking his lips, gathering up courage he formed the lips as the human had said. Then he tentatively applied small specks of kisses with the lips to Thundercrackers jawline, the only plating of the dominant within reach. As the soft lips touched the plating he felt how his lips began to tingle, and the sensation grew with each touch. With the first small specks to the jaw he felt how Thundercracker froze in motion above him and the pressure on the fuel line easing a bit. Emboldened by the reaction he added his glossa to the lips and licked along the line.

Taken by surprise at the feeling of the wet glossa caressing his cheek Thundercracker jerked his helm away from the sensation and abruptly released the fuel line in Starscreams neck.

Turning his helm to look down at the submissive, with a frown the blue seeker turned just as Starscream aimed to apply more kisses to the jawline. Both seekers’ movements caused Starscream to instead of kissing the intended spots to kiss Thundercracker right on his lips, with their lips interlocking. Horrified Starscream stared wide opticed into Thundercrackers surprised optics as both froze with their lips still touching.

With Starscream stunned in horror, Thundercracker was the first to recover and withdraw from the lip lock with the other seeker. Hissing at the strange sensation and the way Starscreams lips felt against his own, he separated their lips with a jerk, causing his fangs to catch Starscreams lips and nick them. The taste of the fuel combined with the still tingling sensation in his own lips caused him to unconsciously stick out his glossa and lick his lips clean of the energon.

Before he knew it, he had locked lips with the tricolored seeker again and was moving against the others soft lips.

Mewls and moans was leaving Starscream at the touch and Thundercracker heard himself groan and growl in appreciation.

He just managed a fleeting thought of: ‘What is going on?’ before he felt how the tingling suddenly transformed into a searing burning sensation which connected with not only his spark but his spike. With glossae entwined he devoured Starscreams willing mouth, drinking the flowing energon from the wound done to the lips. Tasting not only the energon, but his future mate he felt himself drown in a deep need for the seeker beneath him. Without his control his spike cover released and his spike extended, erect and oozing prefluids.

Thundercracker felt the instant Starscream sensed the spike extend and press against his frame, and he was prepared for the seeker to panic.

Breaking the lip lock, Starscream shook his helm and craned his neck to try a look down their frames. He could just barely make out the strange appendage that had emerged.

Without their touching lips, Thundercracker managed to regain some of his control and he slowly withdrew from the frame beneath him. He knew Starscream wasn’t ready, and even if he longed to claim the seeker, he wouldn’t force him, even if his arousal was all Starscreams doing this time. After the Trine Challenge it would be different. But right now he wouldn’t force the issue.

As the blue seeker lifted from his frame and slowly withdrew, Starscream got a better glimpse of the spike. Gasping at the sight of the sleek member standing proudly out from the blue seekers frame, he shuddered, and not in a bad way. Sitting up, he reached for the blue seeker still crouched in front of him, a claw gently touching the spike between the blue legs and feeling the pliable metal it was made of.

At the hiss from Thundercracker he looked up, puzzled.

/That is quite sensitive./ Thundercracker hissed as Starscream repeated the touch, but the blue seeker didn’t move away and allowed Starscream to examine the spike.

Moving to kneel in front of the dominant, his gaze fixed on the spike as he gently touched it from rod to tip. Curious when the member twitched at his touch and Thundercrackers sounds grew in volume he didn’t leave any part of it untouched. Tightening his grip around it, he felt the pulsing beneath the surface, where energon lines ran, recycling energon to the spike to keep it erect.

Feeling the wetness on the tip, he frowned, until he saw the prefluids oozing from it and he began to wonder. Dipping a claw in the fluids he lifted it slowly to his lips and tentatively tasted it. While he did so, both Thundercracker and Skywarp starred openmouthed at him. The appreciative hum leaving the tricolored seeker at the taste of the prefluids had them even more shocked and both was left unmoving as Starscream slowly dipped his helm down between Thundercrackers legs and flicked his glossa at the tip of the spike.

The dominant didn’t even manage any warning growl at the sight of the seeker going for his most vulnerable part before the touch of the glossa was felt, and instead of a warning Thundercracker threw back his helm and groaned loudly when the pleasure shot through his frame. Supporting his shaking frame on his arms and servos behind him as he crouched with his legs opened wide, he watched the tantalizing display of Starscream lowering his helm further and the open mouth of the submissive encasing his member gently. His processor was screaming warnings at him, while his threat assessment agreed and blared at him to slag the seeker before Starscream could do any damage to his reproduction ability. But the sight of the mouth devouring his spike and the feel of the warmth enveloping him drowned out the warnings with pleasurable sensations and caused the spike to throb painfully. Never had he felt something like this and he was unable to stifle the small jerks that buried him deeper inside Starscreams mouth. How Starscream managed to avoid gouging him with his fangs, he didn’t know.

Lost in the divine sensation, he wasn’t prepared when Starscream began to lick his glossa along the spike or when the seeker began to swallow and the rhythmic ripples caused pangs of intense pleasure to shoot from the spike and course through his frame to finally settle at the rod of the spike, building an almost painful charge pressing to be released.

When overload finally claimed him he howled in pleasure and lost his balance when he grabbed hold of Starscreams helm and held it taut to his pelvic plating as the transfluids spurted into the seekers mouth. Emptying himself in jerks, riding his intense overload he panted heavily. Only when the spike retracted did he release his hold on Starscream and let the seeker swallow and vent freely, then with a grunt he collapsed on the ground where he lay and felt how his spark spun.

/That…/ he panted, fighting to cool his overheating frame.

/…was HOT!/ Skywarp finished for the blue seeker as he crawled closer to the two panting frames.

The black and purple seeker had been stunned at the sight of Thundercracker in overload. And what an overload it had been. Charges had traveled the blue plating like electric fire just before Thundercracker had howled out his pleasure.

/Let me share with you./ Starscream teased the black and purple seeker, tugging gently on a black wing to get Skywarp to move closer.

When Skywarp did so, coming face to face, Starscream brought their lips together, tasting Skywarp and letting the black and purple seeker taste him and the remaining tastes of Thundercrackers transfluids.

At the moan from the black and purple seeker, Starscream snickered.

/Good, isn’t he?/ he asked in a teasing tone.

/Where did you learn this?/ Skywarp asked, licking his lips. /I thought you uneducated./ the seeker added with a frown.

Blushing, Starscream decided NOT to tell the two seekers about the educational tour on the humans’ network, Sarah had put him through when she realized that seekers and humans was a lot alike when enjoying themselves. He had been horrified at the beginning, but when he managed to turn off the sound, it all had become more bearable. And he had learned some, which was why he hadn’t panicked this time. That he had taken it this far had not been in his mind, but the sound and sight of Thundercracker reacting like that to what he had done… He felt how the unreleased charge in his own frame grew a notch as he thought about it.

/No matter./ Skywarp said when the tricolored seeker kept silent. /Now let me show you something new./ He added, and before Starscream knew it, he was on the ground with Skywarp straddling his hips. Puzzled he watched the black and purple seeker move down his frame and settle between his legs.

A devious smirk graced Skywarps lips as he explained.

/Last time you learned about your valve cover. This time I am going to show you something else. Something only possible between you and me/ he began and lowered his helm to the area just above the valve cover where another cover lay undisturbed and firmly closed.

Beside them Thundercracker let out an appreciative sound and moved to give more space to the two submissives as well as get a better view. This was not for him to participate in, but he would be slagged if he was going to ignore them as they did this.

Tracing Starscreams spike cover with his glossa, mapping out the rim, he enjoyed the sounds of pleasure he wreaked from the tricolored seeker. Applying pressure to the cover he slowly coaxed Starscreams systems to retract it and bare the content behind. As the cover slid aside it revealed a spike still firmly seated in its housing, kept there behind a flexible layer of silicone. The spike was already straining the membrane and Skywarp knew from teachings from when he still was a youngling seeker that he had to breach it cleanly with a claw to allow the spike free movements.

Licking the membrane teasingly with his glossa, hearing the pleasurable sounds becoming strained with pain, he swiftly racked a claw through the membrane, careful to not hurt Starscream while doing so. As the membrane broke and the spike was released a hiss escaped the tricolored seeker when the delicate surface of the spike met the cool air.

Feeling how his valve began to constrict around nothing at the sight of Starscreams erect spike, Skywarp forced away any thought of impaling himself on it, knowing that Thundercracker demanded to be the first to take the tricolored seeker. He didn’t dare anger the Winglord in this, so instead of initiating any direct interface that would get him slagged by his mate, he decided to try out what Starscream just had done to the blue seeker. Lowering his helm to the spike, he slid out his glossa and licked the tip.

Enjoying the mewls of pleasure leaving Starscreams vocalizer, he slid the spike into his mouth and slowly began to suckle.

Flicking his glossa around the spike as he suckled he drew long strangled moans and groans from the tricolored seeker, as well as appreciative sounds from the blue seeker not far away.

Listening to the sounds he soon lost himself in the act and pleasure, ignoring his own frame screaming its need. By doing so he didn’t realize when Thundercracker had moved or how his valve cover had retracted, first when he felt the intruding presence of Thundercracker spike pressing into his valve did he manage to return to the present, and he let out a moan as he was stretched wide and filled completely.

Working his glossa around the spike in his mouth while moving to meet each of Thundercrackers thrusts into his valve he was lost in a haze of growing arousal, the charge intensifying with each swallow or thrust.

When he overloaded, Starscream wasn’t as forceful as Thundercracker had been, and didn’t force Skywarps helm down onto the spike as the transfluids spurted from it, instead he grabbed the black wings trembling with their own charge and added more pleasure to Skywarps growing charge. Before long, with the touch on his wings, the taste of Starscream in his mouth and Thundercracker thrusting more and more forcefully into his valve Skywarp was reduced to a mewling mess before he wailed out his overload, his valve clenching down on Thundercrackers spike and sending the Winglord over the edge with him.

Collapsing on top of the black and purple seeker, Thundercracker rolled of the submissive when Skywarp complained and took the seeker with him, not trapping Starscream under the both of them. Laying there panting the three seekers didn’t say or do anything for several breems.

Then, lifting his helm with a sated expression filling it, Starscream asked.

/So, what about your spike?/ the tricolored seeker leered at the black and purple.

/Not…this orn… need recharge./ Skywarp panted, a smile on his lips. Then he reached out and drew the tricolored seeker against his frame and Thundercracker embraced both submissives before they cycled down and went into recharge.

Wakening cycles later Starscream was still embraced securely by the dominant and feeling the nice warmth coming from the two other seekers he snuggled closer into Skywarps plating before initiating his recharge protocols again. Thundercracker who was awake before Starscream and had just laid there and enjoyed the feeling of both his submissives felt the tricolored seeker wake and then enter recharge. Gently nuzzling Starscreams plating and whispering a low /Mine./ out to no one, he relaxed and returned to guard the recharging pair of submissives scanning the area and tuning his audios to any sound not belonging.

A few more cycles passed before Skywarp began to stir. The black and purple seeker tended to recharge longer than most. Becoming a carrier had not helped on the habit, and now without all their young it seemed like Skywarp took the time to reenergize. Prodding his bond to the little seekerling he felt a content response and he smiled. Things were working out for them all after all.

As cycles passed, and the night time on the planet descended upon them, Starscream parted with them as he had done two weeks ago, but this time with a promise to be back the next morning. This time letting the seeker go alone, Thundercracker followed Skywarp back to the camp and the rest of their seekers.

Leaving the forest, his spark fluttering as he recalled all that had happened that day, Starscream wasn’t aware of his surroundings and didn’t detect the spying Laserbeak following him in his trail away from the forest.

Therefore when the shot came, he was taken completely by surprise at the feeling of the pain in his frame. Losing any control of his frame as the invasive concoction in the arrow entered his systems he came crashing down into the ground, knocked offline by the impact.

When he entered consciousness again he wanted to scream. Never had he been in so much pain as now. But when he tried to scream he realized horrified that his frame wouldn’t obey him, neither did any sound come from his vocalizer. Only his optics was under his control and what he saw had him trembling.

To the far side, almost out of his vision decepticons was gathered and in the middle he instantly recognized their leader, Megatron.

Hearing mumbles from the group, he tried to tune his audios and found himself able to enhance his hearing enabling him to listen in on them.

Megatron was greatly pleased with the outcome of his latest trip to Cybertron. There in Shockwaves old laboratory he had found some of the scientists last experiments. Among them one he had used to down the autobot seeker and paralyze it. It seemed Shockwave had experimented on seekers left on the battlefield and had discovered a new way to deal with the dangerous fliers if the need arose.

Where no virus, disease or poison could take down a seeker, the scientist had experimented with Trojans and found a way to immobilize the seeker and disable the self-repair. With the self-repair down, the seekers strongest defense was nonexistent and any poison, virus and disease were able to affect it and ultimately kill it. Soundwave had learned from notes that the concoction Shockwave had come up with, which was a mere prototype, was filled with countless viruses and diseases which only purpose was to let the Trojan slip undetected through the strong defenses and infect the seekers basic systems while the self-repair was occupied dealing with the meager threats.

Glancing at the prone frame not far away he smirked.

Two weeks ago it had been different.

He had been pleasantly surprised when Laserbeak reported the presence of the seeker among the rest of the group, the spy having missed the arrival of the seeker to the camp. It had been a small victory, one he had intended so savor and throw at Prime next time the two leaders met. But the smile that had been on his face fell when Laserbeak later reported the seeker returning to the autobots. Enraged at the treasonous seeker meddling with his seekers and then return to the autobots like nothing had happened, he had decided to make his move and rid the autobots of the seeker for good.

That was when he had decided to make a trip to Cybertron.

Now with the seeker within range and its defenses down, Soundwave would be able to rewrite some of the seekers code and bind it to serve its kin and Megatron only. No more dealings with the autobots. Next time Prime would see the seeker was when the seeker attacked him.

‘Oh how the irony, the seeker attacking its own guardian.’ He thought, laughing out loud.

“Seeker: awake.” Soundwave droned, interrupting his thoughts.

“Good. Good. Let’s begin.” He answered, knowing that the telepath needed the seeker awake to do this.

With a nod from Soundwave, they walked towards the seeker. Looking down at the prone frame he saw the online optics and the smirk grew. Gently petting a cheek in mock comfort he told the seeker in a soothing voice.  
“Don’t worry. You will soon be home where you belong. Under my rule.” He cooed mockingly.

Seeing a strange flash in the yellow optics, like the seeker had understood him he shook his helm. Seekers didn’t understand cybertronian. What foolish thoughts.

“Begin Soundwave.” He ordered, turning away from the seeker.

Starscream didn’t know what was going on. But one thing was sure, if he believed Megatrons words, he wouldn’t like it.

Trying to fight the immobility of his frame, to say or do anything he felt how his processor became overheated the more he fought and no result came.

Then he felt it, another presence in his mind, and even if he felt fatigued and sluggish, he tried to repel the intruder from his being.

Somehow he managed to get a faint control of his vocalizer and a shout erupted from him.

Hearing his loud “NO!” every decepticon froze and silence filled the area as the mechs processed what had happened. The smirk on Megatron’s lips faltered and he narrowed his optics. Turning around he asked his troops who had yelled, but no one stood forth.

Unbelieving he turned back to the seeker, his lips a thin line.

“Soundwave, did the seeker just yell out in common cybertronian?” he asked carefully.

“Affirmative.” The mech droned, intensely studying the seeker.

Megatrons red optics turned impossible cold as he studied the seeker himself, anger slowly rising.

“What abomination is this? A seeker talking! And cybertronian!” his voice going from even to a bellowing roar.

Kicking the prone frame, Starscream would have winced if able to when the pain in his right side and wing flared viciously as Megatrons pede hit them with force.

“What a useless pathetic excuse of a seeker! I wanted a true seeker, not some experiment of the autobots’!” Megatron roared, adding more kicks to the defenseless frame of the seeker.

“We are leaving. Soundwave, gather the troops, we return to base. Leave the abomination as it is, let the concoction kill it. We are better off without any autobot attempt to lure my seekers away.” The decepticon leader ordered, turning his back on the seeker and leaving.

Breems later Starscream was the only one in the clearing, left vulnerable with the deadly concoction working inside him, slowly killing him.

Cycles passed as he suffered in great pain, feeling how the combined force of viruses, diseases and poisons slowly affected more and more of his being. He was awake through it all, unable to enter recharge, and his frame not able to enter emergency stasis to ease his condition with it being an essential part of his disabled enhanced self-repair system.

Halfway into the night, his time measurement was destroyed and he had no way to know what time it was. Only when the sky slowly became brighter did he realize he had stayed there through the whole night. As the sun rose on the sky and dark blue turned to crimson orange and then a light blue he hoped he soon would be missed by someone. Then his vision slowly greyed out as the processing hub controlling that and other sensory outputs fell victim to the infection and he was left in darkness, his audios the only connection he still had to the world outside his processor.

Unknown to the seeker a few more cycles passed before he heard the telltale of jet engines in the distance. Wanting to scream, hearing the thunderous sound of Thundercrackers engines roaring and slowly coming closer, his spark sang even as the vile concoction worked its way into his life essence, infecting the last part of his frame and ensuring his sure death within a cycle if his fuel pump didn’t malfunction before that time.

He didn’t feel it when two seekers landed, or when he was lifted from the ground, but he knew he was safe, his spark reaching, wanting, needing and finding the two other sparks meaning the world to it close by.

Using the last of his reserves he did as the night before, forcing his voice through the numb haze.

/Take…me…to…creator……/ he barely whispered before stasis claimed his almost greyed frame.


	29. Chapter 29

-Flash back: The seeker camp the night before after Starscream left-  
/You’re sure he is going to be okay?/ Skywarp asked as the two seekers made their way back to the camp.

Gently wrapping an arm around the submissive, Thundercracker stopped and looked down at the worried yellow optics of his mate.

/It is his decision to go back to the grounders at night. You have told me to let him do that, and I have accepted your reasoning, even if I don’t understand why you would allow him out of sight./ Thundercracker explained calmly, caressing Skywarps cheek with the other servo.

/Still, I don’t like it, leaving him to return on his own./ Skywarp argued.

/Even with him being our third, you still got my first priority./ the blue seeker told him, the servo leaving the cheek to lay protectively on the cockpit housing the seekerling.

/You know that he soon won’t need me this close. I was thinking leaving him in Crossfires care the next orn when Starscream returns. Then we can take on a longer flight./ Skywarp mused, a smile on his lips.

/Or we could get on with making Starscream ours officially./ Thundercracker added.

/Think he is ready for it all?/ Skywarp asked, concerned.

/No, nothing can prepare him./ the blue seeker laughed.

Pushing free of the dominants embrace Skywarp glared at the blue seeker. /You just want his valve!/

/And you don’t?/ Thundercracker countered, a certain glint in the orange optics.

/I am done arguing with you!/ Skywarp sighed exasperated before he began to walk the last distance to the camp. A good spirited laugh followed him from the dominant.

/So Trine Challenge?/ Skywarp added after some breems silence.

/Oh yes. First thing in the morning!/ the blue seeker answered, a smirk plastered on his lips.

/Then you better enter recharge now, since I am sure he is going to be a real challenge from what I saw of him in the air this orn./ Skywarp teased.

/You telling me I am slow?!/ Thundercracker mock roared.

/Compared to Starscream EVERYONE is slow!/ Skywarp shot back, not taking the bait.

Ignoring the look from the rest of the seekers, Skywarp lay down comfortably and nuzzled into the covering of their rest area.

/Recharge, NOW!/ he ordered the dominant.

A grunt was the only response before Thundercracker embraced him and dutifully entered recharge.

Cycles later Skywarp was violently roused from his recharge to uncommon sounds escaping the Winglord. Blearily onlining his optics he watched the dominant clutch at his chest while in recharge, the large wings trembling violently, and the frame covered in condense. Touching Thundercracker gently he hissed at the burning feeling of the plating. Yelling out loud to wake the blue seeker he didn’t care if he woke every seeker from recharge. It was clear that something was wrong.

Seeing Crossfire almost run towards them when he kept yelling to wake the blue seeker, his spark filled with fear. Thundercracker wouldn’t wake.

When the grey and red dominant knelt beside him, reaching for the Winglord, Skywarp prayed to The Sky Above that everything was alright with his mate.

Gently pushing the panicking submissive away from the distressed Winglord, Crossfire cursed that they had left Silvershade and his trinemates back on Cybertron. He could really use the healing abilities the trine held.

Looking up, meeting the optics of his own trinemates in the distance, he conveyed a silent order through the bond to them and saw them hurriedly take to the sky. With that done he returned his focus on the blue seeker who still trashed in recharge.

Hushing on Skywarp, he tried to sooth the panic.

/Don’t worry Skywarp; he is going to be okay. His spark is just feeling pained. No internal damages, no malfunctions from what I can see. But I don’t understand the pain or why he won’t wake./ Crossfire mused out loud.

Just then his trinemates returned with soaked covering to ease the frame running hot. Gently covering Thundercracker in the cool substances, the temperature on the plating slowly fell and soon Skywarp was able to snuggle close to his mate and seek comfort without being burnt. Ever so slowly the trembling eased and Thundercracker went still. However he was still clutching at his spark painfully and he didn’t wake.

Frustrated when nothing he did managed to wake the Winglord, Crossfire gave up and decided to try one last thing.

/When did you sparkmerge last, Skywarp?/ he asked.

/Two orns ago. Why? Think I can reach him?/ The submissive said, caressing the pained expression on Thundercrackers face gently.

/I can come up with nothing else./ Crossfire sighed.

Opening his cockpit he gently took out the seekerling and handed it to Crossfire with a stern look in his optics, conveying the warning silently. Then he retracted his chest plates and lowered them to just above Thundercrackers own. Sensing the spark bonded to it reaching for it, Thundercrackers spark initiated the opening of the plates on its own with Thundercracker this far gone. When the light began to shine Skywarp brought them together to shield himself and his mate in their vulnerability. He might trust Crossfire, but the Winglord was so vulnerable now, that he had to be the one to protect.

Leaving the real world, traveling inside their joined sparks, Skywarp was relieved to see that the Meta world was normal as it should be.

::Thundercracker!:: He called out.

Silence.

Then spark consuming pain.

Gasping at the onslaught of the pain Thundercracker shared with him, he almost broke their connection in defense.

::What?:: he panted through the pain.

::Starscream.:: was the faint response from the blue seeker.

::How? We aren’t trined yet and you don’t sense him like the rest of us. You told me that.:: Skywarp responded.

::I don’t know. He is reaching for some reason, finally becoming mine, part of my people. He is there Sky, there with the rest of you, and he is…dying.:: the voice of the blue seeker grew from confusion to horror.

Now Skywarp understood why they weren’t able to wake the Winglord. Thundercracker was unconsciously performing a rarely used ability, sharing himself with their distressed future trinemate, not wanting to let him go, giving of his own strength, but at the same time taking a part of what had happened to Starscream onto himself, prolonging the tricolored seekers survival while suffering himself. It was something only Thundercracker was able to do in his function as Winglord, holding a part of every seeker inside his spark, and now also Starscream it seemed. If it had been anyone but Starscream he did this for, Skywarp would have demanded of him to stop instantly, since it could kill the both of them if whatever had affected Starscream was deadly enough. Everyone had heard of the tales of Winglords sacrificing themselves for their people, not knowing when to give up and let them go.

::What do you sense from him?:: Skywarp instead asked, sharing bits of his own energy with his mate, strengthening Thundercracker.

::He is fading Skywarp. Dying from me. I can’t save him.:: Thundercracker answered in a voice full of pain.

::Then stop reaching. We can do nothing for him at this distance. With him in your spark…let’s find him and see what we can do.:: the black and purple seeker whispered, trying to sound soothingly.

::You forget that you can’t hide your thoughts from me here Sky, I know he is already dead. We don’t have anyone among us able to handle this. Silvershade is on Cybertron. He is lost to us. Our trine will stay incomplete. If I stop reaching…then he is dead.:: Thundercracker stated.

::If so, Thunder, is he worth your life too? Without you, where will we be? You keep reaching and you die with him!:: Skywarp whispered pleadingly.

Pushing images of their seekerlings and seekerlets through to the blue seeker, he hoped that Thundercracker would understand and chose the right decision.

::They will be left alone, Thundercracker. You die, I die with you. Don’t let your wish for us to be complete be what kills us.:: Skywarp pressed. Now he understood everything. The Sky Above had mercilessly introduced them to their promised third only to take him from them in the most painful way, fulfilling the sentence he had judged all those thousand vorns ago. The joy Skywarp had felt together with the tricolored seeker had been so short and drowned in the horror and pain at losing Starscream even before they got trined.

‘You will never get a complete trine.’ The words from the god stung in his Meta and he felt Thundercrackers shock. The Winglord had never known what came of Skywarps death and revival that long time ago, the submissive had kept silent, but here in the Meta world everything was finally revealed.

Their survival back then now cost Starscream his life.

::I am so sorry.:: Skywarp cried.

::Sky, it was all my fault back then. Even being insane doesn’t ease my crimes towards all of you.:: Thundercracker stopped him.

::But if I hadn’t been so defiant, then everything would be alright now.:: Skywarp countered.

::You fought with your own insanity from the losses. No one can fault you reacting like you did.:: the blue seeker soothed.

::Still…::the black and purple seeker sniffed.

::I know. Did he really doom us to this fate?:: Thundercracker asked, wanting to hear what the god had said back then.

Thinking back to the time spent with the god before his revival, Skywarp replayed the conversation. Coming to the part where the god sentenced them, he openly shared it in their Meta:

/Your bond is what is dragging Thundercracker down with you. You need to return, to live. I have already measured the consequences for you to return to life, and this is a sacrifice for both you and Thundercracker to make. You will never experience the sensation of a complete trine, of what makes every seeker whole, but you will live and be together. Yet, it is not all; the greatest sacrifice is for you alone. You will have to live with the torment and pain Thundercracker lash out with, but if you do, a reward will await you./ the god explains in a serious voice.

::He was…never ours to have.:: Thundercracker whispered, the pain flaring between them again.

::No.:: Skywarp just answered flatly, his feelings showing in the violent twirls around him.

Withdrawing from the reaching tricolored seeker, Thundercracker let go, knowing now that whatever he did, he wouldn’t succeed. Who could fight against the decision of a god? Still the panic he sensed from Starscream as his soothing presence left broke his spark.

Feeling Thundercracker awakening, Skywarp slowly withdrew from the Meta world and came back into his frame.

Looking down with pained yellow optics, he didn’t feel any elation when Thundercracker finally onlined his.

/Let’s go and gather him. He needs a proper sending to The Sky Above./ Thundercracker said, not looking at the group around him before he rose from the ground and shot to the air. Following him in silence Skywarp ignored the group as well.

This was too painful.

Landing not far from the almost greyed out frame showered in the gentle light of the planet’s sun, Skywarps horror grew. They had seen so much death among their people the last many thousand vorns, still the sight of the greyed frame of who should have been their third was the worst he had ever seen.

The sorrow filled the two seekers so much that they didn’t sense the still reaching spark in the greyed frame, first when the vocalizer cracked to life did they understand that Starscream wasn’t gone completely, yet.

/Take…Me…To…Creator…/ the almost greyed seeker whispered before he went slack and Thundercracker understood that the strength he had fed to the seeker finally had run out and stasis had claimed him.  
-End flash back-

The words forced through made no sense to Thundercracker, but when he turned to Skywarp, he knew there was something he had missed.

/Creator?/ he asked. He had no idea of what the seeker had meant, but it seemed his mate did, a faint hope filling the previously sorrow filled optics of the black and purple seeker.

The feeling of sudden eagerness coupled with panic and the need to act coming through their bond from Skywarp had the Winglord frowning while he cradled the grey seeker.

/Creator!/ Skywarp cried out loud, and before Thundercracker knew it, the submissive had grabbed him firmly and he felt the beginning telltale of a teleport.

Feeling how his equilibrium was torn apart as he was thrown into the teleport and traveled through time and space, he wanted to curse his mate. He never liked when Skywarp did this, not that it was that often, but he felt distorted a decent amount of time following it.

Coming out of the teleport he staggered and barely managed to remain standing with the slack Starscream in his arms and shaking unsteady legs. Skywarp, used to the feeling supported him with ease and soon he found his stability.

/Skywarp./ he growled.

Ignoring the growl, Skywarp turned serious yellow optics to meet his orange.

/Do you trust me?/ the submissive asked.

/What? Yes!/ Thundercracker answered, not understanding.

/Do you trust Starscream?/ Skywarp pressed, his tone taking a more serious tone than before.

/Of course. What is your point?/ the dominant growled.

With a deep sigh, Skywarp hurried to explain.

/We are going to fulfill his wish and take him to his creator. But you see this is where it turns complicated, and I need you to keep cool and let me do the ‘talking’./ Skywarp began. /Because, you see, his creator isn’t a seeker. It is a grounder./ he finished, cringing for the outburst he was sure would come.

An angry rumble sounded from the powerful engine of the dominant at that statement.

/His creator is a grounder?! That is not possible Skywarp, you know it. No seeker is birthed by grounders, grounders don’t even birth their young!/ Thundercracker growled, his optics narrowing.

/I know! But listen. His carrier was found by the grounder, from what Starscream explained, and he died after the birth. The grounder raised Star. Thunder, we owe a grounder our third! Let’s at least give him his last time together with his creator and then we can send him off./ Skywarp elaborated.

Grunting in annoyance, Thundercracker stared into the pleading yellow optics, then after a long breem he deflated. Skywarp felt elated at the sight of the lowering wings and knew he had won through.

/Fine. Teleport us. I guess we can do the grounder this favor./ the blue seeker growled. /But as soon as he is gone we are leaving for the camp and the ritual!/ he added. The grounder might have raised the seeker, but only the Winglord could make sure Starscream reached his destination in the afterlife.

As Skywarp grabbed him he felt the sickening feeling of the teleport again, but this time he was more prepared.

Appearing at the bottom of the volcano, not far from the crack in the ground where Starscream had vanished down into two weeks ago, Thundercracker fought to regain his equilibrium fast. They were in enemy territory now and he needed to be alert.

Down below the surface, the proximity alarms blared when the seekers appeared out of nowhere and the autobots mobilized.

Ratchet feeling strangely fatigued even after a good nights recharge followed the troops to the surface, just as puzzled as the rest to the strange appearing.

Emerging from the ground the autobots aimed weapons on the seekers the instant they recognized the two seekers as the leading pair. Among the fliers those two were the worst to encounter and everyone had their nightmares resolving around them.

At the sight in the blue seekers servos, shock ran through the gathered group of grounders, and Thundercracker could sense all ranges of emotion coming from them.

Turning to Skywarp, he nodded curtly allowing the black and purple seeker to step away from his protection.

/One wrong move from them and I take offense Skywarp, so be careful if you want your chance of a peaceful encounter./ the Winglord warned.

/I know./ the black and purple seeker answered, schooling his wings in a nonthreatening way before he took a careful step towards the group of grounders.

/Eh, what is it doing?/ Sideswipe asked from the front of the group as the black and purple seeker took measured steps towards them, his blaster wavering as the seeker came closer.

Stopping midway between Thundercracker and the grounders, Skywarp slowly knelt to lower his height and touched his servo to his spark, standing still in the move, waiting for any response.

/It is communicating, fool./ Ratchet growled, moving as the only one to respond to the gesture, taking steps of his own towards the seeker. Mirroring the seeker he watched as the black wings flickered at his gesture.

Then to his surprise the seeker reached the other servo towards him, palm up, inviting.

Looking back at his comrades he steeled himself and moved further towards the seeker ignoring the calls from the others. Passing by the seeker, it stayed still, still kneeling, but no longer reaching in invite.

With the grounder well past him, Skywarp rose from his kneeling position and slowly made his way back to Thundercracker following Ratchet.

Feeling his resolve waver a bit, now faced with the not so welcoming look in the large blue seekers optics, Ratchet stopped a bit away. But that didn’t do for what the seekers wanted, and he felt claws on his back urging him forward. Yelping at the feeling of the dangerous tips scraping his armor, but not digging into it, he moved on shaking pedes.

Taking a chance, looking up at the black and purple seeker slowly guiding him closer to the volatile large blue seeker, he found calmness in the yellow optics as well as a strange pain and sorrow.

Frowning at the show of feelings he didn’t realize that he had reached the blue seeker. First when he turned his helm did he realize how close to the seeker he was with his whole vision covered in blue.

No.

Not all blue.

Something was grey.

Realizing what it was he looked at his spark began to pulse faster and the strange sensation that had haunted him the most of the morning returned tenfold.

This close he was able to see clearly what it was the blue seeker held, and while his spark spun, almost burning inside his chest, the energon in his lines froze.

“…Starscream….?” He whispered unbelieving at the sight of the greyed frame.

Feeling his legs turn gooey he fought to keep standing.

Reaching towards his little seeker with a shaking servo he graced the expressionless face.

“How? Who? Why?” he asked in a whisper, the pain evident in his tone.

A pained whimper was heard from behind him and he turned his helm to look at the black and purple seeker.

Now he understood the feelings he had seen.

As he looked at the seeker he stunned watched a lone energon tear travel down a cheek and fought to not reach out to clear it, to sooth, to caress away the hurt so evident.

Placing a servo gently on Starscreams chest, it took a moment for him to realize what he felt.

Then the shock hit him, Starscream; he wasn’t gone completely yet.

Unconsciously performing a scan when he felt the weak spark pulse, he was shocked when it showed all the viruses, diseases and poisons lingering in the seeker’s systems.

As more and more of his medical code activated through the initial haze of sorrow and loss, his subroutines began to scream at him.

Measuring the timeframe for when Starscream finally died, he realized that he still had a whole half cycle to try and do something. Try and counter the deadly dose. Still something didn’t add up. Throughout the war they had learned that barely anything could hurt the seekers.

So why was Starscream dying?

Deciding against all reason to plug into the heavily infected seeker, he reinforced his firewalls and antivirus the best he could before he went for the latch and plugged in.

No firewalls greeted him.

No defenses at all tried to expel him from the seeker.

Instead he was left with the seeker completely open to him.

It looked so much like when the subroutines had become scrambled; still this time it was so much more volatile.

Running several scans he tried to find the reason.

It took breems before he got a verified ping among all the recognized malfunctioning or offline systems.

A Trojan.

Cursing he withdrew from the seeker and rubbed his helm.

It was all clear to him what must have happened. With a Trojan in the seekers systems it had snug by the defenses and infected Starscream allowing the virus, disease and poison to freely run rampart in the seeker.

He needed to do something and fast if Starscream was to be saved. Everything was malfunctioning and the fuel pump was almost below 10% in efficiency. If it dropped below 5% the spark would extinguish.

Already working on an antivirus solution and coming up with cures to the various diseases and poisons he opened a com line to Firstaid.

“I need you to set up heavy intensive monitoring in one of the antechambers to the medbay.” He ordered. Getting an acknowledgement from the other medic, he turned to face the blue seeker holding Starscream.

Now he just had to convince the seekers to let Starscream go.

Looking up in the cold orange optics of the blue seeker, not showing the care and affection like the black and purple seeker’s yellow optics, he frowned. This was going to be a challenge and he had no time if he was to do anything for Starscream.

Oh, well he could always try the simplest ways, and then turn to the more drastic if that didn’t receive understanding.

Turning from the seeker holding Starscream, he took a few steps towards the crack and turned to face the seekers. Then he winked at the seekers to follow him, hoping they understood.

Watching the grounder, Skywarp was confused.

Where were all the emotions, all the feelings all the sorrow? Suddenly the grounder had gone from being filled with enough feelings that it flowed down his plating almost physically to vanish and leave him insensitive, cold and calculating.

Looking at Thundercracker, he knew the dominant had sensed the change too, if the equally cold and calculating optics of his mate was anything to go by. The Winglord was rigid and followed every movement in the area, seen and unseen. With wings held high on his back and fanning slowly he was a powerful display, and even if the fanning was relaxed it didn’t fool a seeker. The sensors were alight and tuned in on any sudden movements that could be a threat.

When the red and white grounder moved away from them, Skywarp narrowed his optics in a frown.

Didn’t he want to be with his creation?

But then he saw the wink, the invitation, just like his own, and he felt uneasy.

What did the grounder want? He wondered.

Sounds from the group of grounders at the crack, had his attention, and he narrowed his optics further, taking tentative steps back towards Thundercracker. He knew he was the weaker of the two, and he knew Thundercracker had meant his warning before the interaction.

That knowledge was verified kliks later, when the hum of active sonics lying hidden under the blue plating of the Winglord sounded. Thundercracker was a fine-tuned weapon at the moment, ready to launch at any wrong move.

And without their seekerling there he was free to use it, since even Skywarps protective cockpit stood no chance against a launch when this close. Skywarp might be damaged by it, but the grounders would be dead from the force and the proximity if Thundercracker directed it at them in full force.

The ominous hum of energy in the air clearly made the grounder uncomfortable. How many times hadn’t they felt it unleashed from the air and seen the impact and crumbling of buildings afterwards.

Only Ratchet standing in the middle of the two groups was unaffected by the intense build of energy and the uneasy feelings from his comrades. The medic knew that the seeker could bury their space ship under tons on rubble, cause earth quakes and reactivate the slumbering volcano. It had been plenty of weeks since the eruption, but he held no illusion that the power the seeker held was enough to make the volcano collapse inside and cause the pressure to grow dangerously.

But he didn’t let it linger in his processor. Only the need to get Starscream down into his medbay was in the forefront. This was why he kept standing stock still, only his servo moving, still inviting.

He didn’t even care that he actually was inviting their enemy down into their base, making the autobots extremely vulnerable, so he ignored the outrage sounding from the troops at his clear inviting to the seekers to come closer.

That the black and purple seeker had retreated closer to the blue one had his hope for any positive result dwindling. It hadn’t been the reaction he had wanted. Thus far that seeker had been the one to reach most towards him. First when they left Starscream in their care. And now when it had reached for him and allowed him closer.

Daring a scan to follow Starscreams condition, he cringed when he realized that this far away he wasn’t able to single out the almost dead seeker and he knew the instant the blue seeker somehow registered the gentle touch of the scanning running over its frame.

The orange optics widened, glinting ominously while the lips parted showing the deadly fangs and a low almost subsonic growl emitted from it, slowly growing in force.

Instantly the black and purple seeker was by the blue seekers side, chirring nervously.

Accepting that the damage already had been done, Ratchet hurried to finish his scan, and barely kept the angry growl from leaving his vocalizer.

Starscream needed help, NOW!

So focused on what he found on Starscreams condition, he didn’t realize that another set of scanning results had logged, until the file pinged him after kliks without being opened.

And there it was.

Opening the file, he got every running system of the Winglord, including the cursed device Triage had told them about - the mind controller.

Unmaintained during all these vorns, placed in a volatile creature, it was surprisingly well conditioned, the welds made by Soundwave still holding strong.

Secondary plans coming up in his processor, he forced them back for later studying. At the moment it was Starscream who was the priority. But he knew that whatever happened from this event, they might have a chance of coming close enough to the seeker to remove the device. Something that wasn’t possible without Starscream.

Returning his attention to the two seekers, he found what happened in front of him unbelievable.

He just turned his attention on them as Skywarp bit down forcefully on one of the blue wings he kliks before had been caressing gently, the seekers fangs piercing the plating drawing energon and an enraged pained roar from Thundercracker.

It stunned every autobot to see that interaction between the seekers, not that Ratchet found it all that surprising. These two weren’t Starscream. This was confirmed even more by the blue seeker retaliating, completely ignoring the grounders in his rage and determination to punish his mate.

With Starscream in his arms there was only so much Thundercracker could do to Skywarp fortunately for the black and purple seeker. Letting out a menacing growl, he restrained Skywarp around the neck with a somewhat free servo and forced his mate closer. Tightening the grip, letting the claws dig into the delicate wiring he found pleasure in the pained yellow optics.

/We are not going anywhere else than back to camp, Skywarp!/ he growled angry at the words the black and purple seeker had spoken just before the submissive had attacked him, when Thundercracker wouldn’t listen to reason.

/But I felt it. And YOU felt it./ Skywarp pressed the words through, shuddering at the feeling he had sensed from Thundercracker when the grounder had done something.

It was a rarely sensed feeling. One only felt when something really was wrong.

Salvacia used it during his treatments, and Skywarp remembered the feeling like a ghost in his frame from that time back… Feeling another violent shudder travel his frame at the thought of his death and what it now caused, he offlined his optics.

But he could not ignore it. His spark wouldn’t let him.

That was why he had attacked Thundercracker.

/Skywarp, he is gone. Accept it./ Thundercracker murmured, feeling apathy. 

If the blue seeker was unable to save Starscream then what could a mere grounder hope to accomplish against the will of a god?

Releasing the submissive gently, he turned to leave. If the creator didn’t want any time with Starscream, Thundercracker would return them to the camp and send Starscream off peacefully.

Gulping in heaves of air to cool his frame, Skywarp felt how his wings clattered in his back. Never had he been this distressed before.

Pouncing on the Winglord, lips searching and finding Thundercrackers, he nibbled, cooed and pleaded while his claws went to fondle the blue wings, gently caressing the area still bleeding energon from his attack.

It wasn’t kisses as Starscream had done them, but Skywarps work slowly paid off, and soon Thundercracker didn’t try to avoid the advances but met them, connecting their lips firmer and allowing his mate to coerce him.

Turning his glance on the red and white grounder still standing, inviting, he narrowed his optics.

/You are sure about this?!/ he asked Skywarp between their connected lips, his fangs absentmindedly seeking and piercing the black and purple seekers lips and his glossa licking the flowing energon.

Hissing at the pain, Skywarp nodded instead of answering vocally.

Withdrawing from the black and purple seeker, licking his lips clean of energon, Thundercracker looked down at Starscream, and a faint, oh so faint hope began to blossom in his spark. He wanted to silence it but couldn’t, not if Skywarp was right and Starscreams creator truly was just like Salvacia.

Turning his attention on the grounder, he hiked his wings high, but lowered them a bit when he felt Skywarps gentle caress to them.

/Remember, he is Star’s creator. Don’t scare him./ Skywarp pointed out, taking away the pleasure the Winglord had felt at the sight of the uneasy blue optics of what his coding still recognized as prey.

A low growl left his vocalizer, and he passed the grounder slowly, carefully cradling Starscream.

Behind him he felt the telltale of a teleport and then shouting from the group of grounders in front of him, baring him entrance to the crack in the ground. When he turned his helm, Skywarp was gone; the same was the red and white grounder.

Sensing Skywarp appear again, this time down in the crack, he couldn’t hide the smirk on his lips. At least this time it wasn’t him who had been the ‘victim’.

Ratchet didn’t know what had happened. One moment he had stood there, invitingly, the next his gyros were spinning and he was unable to remain standing, furthermore, the light was gone. Feeling the warm plating of the seeker close against his own, he tried to get control of his frame.

Hearing loud shouts from above him, he looked up and realized that he now was down in the crack, just outside the space ship.

“I am down here.” He called to his comrades. “I am okay.” He added and added further in his processor, ‘I think’, while he still fought to get his frame under control.

A coo and a stabilizing clawed servo gently taking hold of one of his arms helped him remaining standing, and as he looked up, he could see frames fighting to look down at him. Then he saw the winged frame among the autobots jump into the crack and he watched it coming crashing down towards him in high speed. Feeling his frame being tugged in close to the seeker behind him, coming flush at the plating, he felt the spark pulse behind the chest plates. Being this close felt strange. He should be scared and filled with fear, but all he felt was a strange reassuring feeling. The last half cycle he had dealt with seekers more closely than in the passing vorns during the war and he yet had to have any energon flowing.

When the blue seeker landed, the impact shook the whole crack and debris flowed from above, falling on the unearthed space ship in loud clanks. Shielding his optics for any stray shards trying to ruin his sight, he looked away.

The moment the flow of debris stilled he was moving towards the entrance, keying it open and didn’t wait for the seekers to follow – he knew they would.

Running down the corridors to the medbay, he tried to gain time to inform Firstaid of their strange visitors.

He could hear loud hissing coming from behind him, and he took a passing glance back to see the seekers studying the rather narrow corridor. Heck even Starscream had trouble moving through it without hitting his wings and those two were larger than the tricolored seeker. Seeing them hunched as they walked, with wings held taut to their frames he almost laughed at the scared optics the black and purple seeker showed. Then he sobered, remembering Starscreams claustrophobia.

Carrying the greyed tricolored seeker in his servos, Thundercracker had his troubles moving in the enclosed space, and he felt how his plating crawled as his coding screamed for him to get away, to get out where the sky was visible and the air was felt on his plating. Hissing when his distress showed in the wings and caused them to clatter on the walls as he moved, sending pained pangs through him, he tried to lower them further.

Skywarp was only little better, being smaller and not having the burden Thundercracker had. Following his mate, he tried to focus solely on the blue seekers back, but the show of distress in the blue wings had him disturbed and he couldn’t avoid showing his own distress. He couldn’t stop wondering how Starscream had managed to live like this, and willingly return to this cage when he could have been out there with them, free to move and enjoy himself, instead of suffering this nightmare.

Coming to the open door they had seen the grounder vanish into, they both sighed in relief as they entered the medbay; this place at least was bigger, allowing for their wings to move freely.

Seeing the grounder motioning for them to follow him into a smaller place in the back, Thundercracker followed, while Skywarp took a moment to look around. This place was so strange. He saw things hanging on the walls and large squares housing even more stuff. What had him wondering the most was the several squares standing around the room lifted from the ground surrounded by strange devices.

A growl from Thundercracker had him stopping investigating and he followed the departing Winglord.

Coming into the smaller place the grounder had led them to, the claustrophobia stirred again and they both drew their wings in close.

When the grounder motioned to a square looking just like the ones Skywarp had seen in the other place, he canted his helm, while Thundercracker narrowed his optics. When the grounder motioned for it again, more insistently the Winglord lowered the grey seeker on it and waited.

Having Starscream on a medical berth finally, Ratchet instantly began to hook him up to the monitors Firstaid had readied for him. When he had Starscream hooked to life-support he felt a lot calmer, now even if the seeker’s fuel pump malfunctioned Starscreams spark would still be sustained and not extinguish, even more importantly, as long as he was hooked to the monitor his fuel pump would not drop below 30% efficiency. Seeing the percentages instantly begin to rise from the dangerous 7% they had been on he breathed out in relief. Now he had time to counter the deadly dose and handle the trickery Trojan.

/Sky Above./ Skywarp breathed suddenly, rousing Thundercracker from his intent stare on Starscreams face.

/What-/ the blue seeker began to ask, but was silenced with a jerk by the black and purple seeker as Skywarp pointed at something.

Following the pointing claw, Thundercracker stopped breathing for a klik, unbelieving.

The grey was fading from Starscreams wings, returning the pristine white.

With trembling claws he reached for them, and felt how the sturdy pump of energon had replaced the cold sensation that had taken over the frame. Now it pulsed with life.

Looking up, the cold in his optics gone, he looked at the grounder.

Meeting a tentative smile on the red and white grounder, every last resentment left him, and he sagged, feeling his legs unable to hold him anymore and he found himself on his knees on the floor a moment later.

Seeing the previously cold orange optics turn white and the seeker falling to the floor, Ratchet was concerned that the blue seeker had been infected too. It had been that close to Starscream, and the dose in the tricolored seeker was enough to take out even the strongest. But realizing that it still was online and functioning, he understood that it had just fainted? Making a note to himself to secure that the seekers got a dose of the serum he was working on for Starscream as well he returned to the berth and continued connecting Starscream to the equipment, monitoring every system in the seeker. Most systems were still malfunctioning showing wrong parameters while others were completely offline.

Getting a steady reading of the spark however was all that mattered at the moment. The rest would be fixed when the deadly dose had been neutralized.

When the last equipment was connected to the seeker a cycle had passed since Starscream was found by the two seekers. With monitors blipping away, supporting the fuel pump, showing the at times fluctuating spark and seeing the external cooling keeping the temperature within normal parameters it looked like Starscream would survive his encounter with the decepticons.

On the floor beside the berth Skywarp had joined his mate, not understanding the grounder when he had pointed at two strange structures moved beside the berth.

/How does he feel?/ the black and purple seeker asked, curious.

/Still dying, but then not./Thundercracker answered, withdrawing from the place in his spark where he felt Starscream now lingering securely among the rest of his seekers.

Snuggling closer into the blue seeker, Skywarp felt reassurance in the words. Letting some of the distress go, he felt his frame slowly go slack after having been filled with so many emotions for so long.

/Good. That is good./ He whispered before he slipped into recharge.

Looking down at the recharging seeker in his arms, Thundercracker let out a soothing coo while gently nuzzling the relaxing features of Skywarps face. It had all been so stressing for the both of them. But the Winglord would never be able to enter recharge here among the grounders, their enemies, and their prey. Looking up at the squares connected to Starscream he watched the moving waves and listened to the calm blipping.

Then a frown entered his expression. Something still didn’t make sense. If the god had doomed them to lose Starscream, then why was the seeker still alive, when he should have been dead?

Inside the main room of the medbay, Ratchet worked on the solution to counter the deadly dose in Starscream, while studying the results he received from the accidental scan of the blue seeker. Among the results, he found a rather intriguing one. It showed a simple signal emitted on a certain wavelength, but what made it so interesting was that Starscream emitted just the same sort of signal, and the two were almost synced.

Ratchet was sure that if he scanned the black and purple seeker, he would find a signal identical to those two and realize that it too almost was synced with Starscreams.

The trine coding it seemed went deeper than he had thought, it wasn’t just coding; it was the sparks reaching. With this new knowledge he understood Starscreams actions better and knew that he couldn’t have done anything to the coding, even if he had purged it from the seeker. It would still have lingered in the spark.

It verified that when he took Starscream to the seekers, he did the right thing.

Consumed by his work he didn’t hear the door to the medbay swoosh open and a mech enter. First when Optimus stood beside him, and gently touched a servo to his shoulder did he startle out of his thoughts.

“Sorry Ratchet. I just needed to know how it goes.” The Prime apologized.

Pointing to a screen showing Starscreams vitals, he allowed himself a smile.

“He isn’t in risk of extinguishing anymore. But I am still working on the serum to clear him of all the virus, disease and poison. The Trojan is going to be the tricky one.” Ratchet explained.

“And the seekers?” The Prime asked.

Laughing Ratchet went to the door and activated the camera feed from the antechamber.

“See for yourself.” He said.

Showing the whole room from a corner, all three seekers were visible and Optimus studied them closely.

“I tried to show them the chairs, but it seems the floor is more natural for them.” Ratchet added with a chuckle.

“Ratchet, I don’t think they even know what a chair is.” Optimus scolded, but found it rather fun himself looking at the pile of two seekers, one clearly recharging and the other fighting his recharge protocols if the dulled optics was anything to go by.

“Never mind.” Ratchet answered. “Now that I have you here, I have something to talk about.” The medic added in a serious tone.

“Such as?” Optimus asked, curious.

“I have verified Triages statement, the damned device exist.” Ratchet growled, pointing at the blue seeker and seeing understanding in Primes optics. “It pinged in on my accidental scan of the seeker. I know exactly where it is. The problem is to get the chance to remove it.” Ratchet grumbled.

“I see. Well I guess we have to await Starscream wakening to try something out.” Optimus answered.

“I am not sure that will be enough to get that close to the seeker. It seems its aggression has eased a bit ever since Starscreams colors began to return, but I am not fooled Optimus, it is a wild seeker, and they are unpredictable.” Ratchet growled, his mood dwindling.

“We’ll see.” Optimus added to the statement before he left the medic alone to work.

Cycles later, Ratchet held the first batch of serum in his servos and checked the solution one last time to test it for any impurities. Satisfied when nothing registered he gently placed the vials on his workbench.

Finding a syringe and placing it beside the vials with serum, he went to work with the most important part of what he was to do next, increasing and updating firewalls, antimalware programs and antivirus. With a stronger arsenal of programs to counter the Trojan he was ready to fight for Starscreams life the instant he entered the seeker. Trojans were tricky and could hide as anything; he just knew it was there, not what it was hiding as, and he sure as the Pit didn’t want it to infect himself in the process.

Sighing deeply, he subspaced the vials and syringe and walked towards the antechamber.

Keying the door open, a faint growl met him from the barely awake blue seeker. Ignoring the sound, he walked to the berth and looked at the monitor showing the vitals. Everything was working correctly. With nothing more to stall the procedure he flicked the latch open and plugged in.

Digging into the seeker, bypassing where he knew firewalls should have been to prevent him entry, he carefully scrolled through file after file, checking every data on his way deeper and deeper into Starscreams coding. Searching intently for the file last created, the program still online and working or the last performed log he scans everything to show their reason for being active and the work done. Running his own antivirus and anti-malware as support in his search he knows he is going to find it. Feeling the virus’ in Starscream try to pass through his firewalls as he works on file after file, not caring if they are infected or not, knowing he needs to open every single one until he finds the Trojan he feels the pangs when the virus’ are incinerated by his firewalls before they manage to pass into his own systems.

Unknown to the medic cycles pass as he works inside Starscream. During the procedure there is no outside world, only his own presence inside Starscream.

Finally five cycles later he opens the program housing the Trojan.

He knows it instantly, seeing all the processing power the program has demanded of the seekers processor the last cycles, almost continually taking up 20% of the seekers whole processing capacity. What it has been doing while there, he don’t know, but it ends now.

Betrayed by its own work, having taken down the very protection preventing Ratchet from initiating deletion of programs inside Starscream, the Trojan fights against Ratchets prompt to delete its cover. Watching the corrupt file crumbling and finally cease to exist, Ratchet purges the revealed Trojan from Starscream and feels how the power rerouted to the program become available to systems much needing it.

Sensing Starscream slowly becoming more and more closed, the firewalls slowly booting and the self-repair beginning to work, he withdraws from the seeker with a smirk.

Unplugging before the firewalls throws him out, Ratchet feels a burden on his shoulders lifted. Starscreams onlining cooling fans is a welcome sound and the slow hum of booting systems even more. Looking at the monitor, he is pleased to see all normal parameters.

With one last task to do before he can recharge, he withdraws the serum vials from his subspace and loads one into the syringe. Gently plugging the needle into an energon line he administers the solution.

Gently caressing Starscreams cheek he leaves the berth, but before he leaves the room completely, he kneels beside the two seekers on the floor. Sharing a look with the blue seeker, he loads another vial into the syringe. Seeing the medic coming closer with the thing in his servo, Thundercracker growls weakly, the refused recharge has made him weak and he only manage to cradle Skywarp closer before the medic has turned the black seekers helm to the side and revealed the energon lines. Scenting the energon of his mate the instant Ratchet plugs the syringe into Skywarp, he lets out a snarl, but isn’t able to fend off the medic from hurting his mate.

Uncaring Ratchet loads the last vial into the syringe and shares a stern look with the blue seeker. Thundercracker has bared his fangs, knowing what the grounder intents, and he won’t let it.

“Feisty, aren’t we.” Ratchet chuckles darkly when Thundercracker snaps at him as he moves closer.

Taking a good hold on the blue seekers helm and forcing it to the side, he presses the syringe into the energon line, ignoring the outraged howl from the seeker.

“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Ratchet murmurs to the sluggish Thundercracker, watching as the serum slowly knocks the seeker offline to work its way into the systems and purge any infection if there is one. Supporting the self-repair, the serum isn’t purged from the seeker, but allowed entrance and to do its work, just like the sedations.

Watching the blue frame go slack and the hold on the black seeker lessen the medic smiles. The seeker really needed the recharge, enemy or no.

Glancing at Starscream one last time he leaves the room and the three recharging seekers.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heed the warnings.

_Starscream didn’t know where he was._

_Darkness and a cold feeling had enveloped him after he had managed the last words to Thundercracker and Skywarp._

_At least he wasn’t in pain anymore._

_But the darkness was unsettling and dangerous, he could feel it._

_He really hoped they would take him to Ratchet, he didn’t want to die like this, and he knew the CMO wouldn’t give up until he had tried every last thing to save him._

_Still he had little faith in Thundercracker understanding and complying._

_That left Skywarp as his only hope._

_He didn’t have any measurement of time where he was, but he felt it, felt how the coldness crept closer and closer and the darkness slowly beginning to choke him, to rid him of his very last connection to life. Lost inside his spark, he felt the pulsing begin to stutter as his spark slowly gave in to the death approaching mercilessly._

_At least it would be painless._

_Accepting death when the darkness tightens around his spark, he is shocked when the strings slowly strangling him suddenly are burnt to ash by searing warmth. Feeling the burning sensation fill his whole being and faintly registering Ratchets presence there among all the darkness and cold, he senses how his creator’s presence drowns out the touch of death with his very being, fighting and winning the battle for his life._

_Then Ratchet is there no more, but his surroundings are forever changed._

_The darkness no longer looms dangerously around him; instead he is lulled into a sense of security. Dragged from the brink of death at the last moment, his now working self-repair begins the work with restoring the seeker to full health all while Starscream lingers in a healing recharge, safe with the knowledge that Skywarp won through against Thundercracker and did as he wanted._

Silence fills the antechamber, the sound of recharging seekers and calmly blipping monitors the only sound in the room.

On the berth in the middle of the room healing systems slowly reboot and begin to come online one after one while scans are performed, testing the previously malfunctioning or offline systems. Sensing lingering damage to essential systems, the frame goes slack again, rebooting cycling down and diagnostics directing self-repair to deal with the damage.

Cycles pass, and a medic come and go in the room with the seekers, checking up on the healing Starscream as well as checking the two seekers on the floor. Having send Ratchet off to recharge in the office, the CMO not wanting to leave the medbay and his creation, Firstaid is the only one online in this part of the space ship.

Silence fills the medbay, the calm humming and blips from monitors working sounding now and then while the medic tinkers with a project of his, but the silence and peace is soon coming to an end.

Wakening as the first from the serum Ratchet forced into his systems, Thundercracker finds his systems coming online one after one, slowly booting up like he has been in stasis. Looking around he at first don’t know where he is, there is none of the usual scents, instead everything reeks of grounders and he lets out an annoyed grunt.

Then the memory file from the orn before plays and he goes through all the feelings that he hadn’t allowed himself to succumb to in the face of losing Starscream. Ending with what Ratchet did to Skywarp, his claws instantly checks his mate, and he sees the puncture showing the entrance of the foreign substance. It is healed, but whatever the grounder forced into the submissive left its trail on the energon line.

Searing anger slowly rises in him at the sight, drowning out any other feelings fighting inside the blue seeker.

‘How dare this grounder touch his mate?!’

Then the file shows how the medic forces himself upon the weakened Winglord, how the grounder towers domineeringly above him before it kneels and forces his helm to the side to do what it had done to Skywarp, and a rage unlike any other rises in the blue seeker from the initial anger and a snarl leaves his vocalizer.

Rising from the floor, gently letting Skywarp curl in on himself, still deeply in recharge, Thundercracker stalks to the door.

Poking at the door which remains locked his rage takes on another notch, fed by the creeping claustrophobia. Then after kliks where the door remains unmoving, he utilizes his strength and pushes his frame against it, shredding it from its frame. With the door clanking to the floor inside the main room of the medbay the blue seeker grunts and stalks into the room, optics scanning for any life signs.

Orange optics landing of a startled Firstaid, Thundercracker lets out another annoyed grunt. Not the right grounder even if the colors are right.

Lifting his helm, taking in every scent in the room like a true predator, he searches for his target, his prey.

Ignoring the frightened Firstaid only a few dozen feet away, he follows the scent to Ratchets office on the other side of the medbay.

Meeting a new door in his way, he wastes no time in ripping it to shreds, tearing it from its frame in the wall.

Licking his lips as the scent of his prey grows stronger; he stalks into the office with wings held high, barring his target any chance of escape.

With the seeker’s attention turned away, Firstaid hurries to the main entrance to the medbay and activates the emergency alert for the medbay, praying that the others manage to come before anything bad happens.

Ignoring the annoying klaxons, not knowing what they are, Thundercracker snarls at a cornered Ratchet.

Reveling in the fear flowing from the medic, he growls dangerously at the mech, showing his gleaming fangs while he slowly stalks closer.

The seeker is hungry and Ratchet is the perfect prey, sending all the right pulses of fear and the knowledge of death to come while the grounder’s spark pulse franticly in its chamber trying to find but knowing there is no escape.

The grounder might be Starscreams creator, but right now that doesn’t matter. Right now coding is working in the Winglord, coding the foolish grounder dared to play with, and now it has to take the consequences and the submissive fearful signals Ratchet sends right now isn’t going to save him.

Snarling viciously Thundercracker takes the last step towards the grounder trapping it completely and reaches with mockingly gentle servos towards it.

Heavy footsteps sound from the corridor outside the medbay and Optimus enters the medbay followed by the twins, Ironhide, Prowl and Jazz. Seeing the damaged doors and the outline of blue wings inside Ratchets office, the autobots readies themselves for battle with weapons humming to life.

Offhandedly asking Firstaid what happened, the medic just shakes his helm, not understanding.

“You know even with us here, we can’t overpower it, Prime.” Prowl adds in a serious tone.

“I know.” The Prime answers the tactician in a grave tone. Then he turns to the twins “I want no stupid attempts from you two. That seeker can rip you apart and has done that to autobots even before you were found. Don’t mess with it.” he warns, sobering the two frontliners.

“So, what are we going to do?” Sideswipe asks, pouting.

A faint voice answers him.

“I suggest getting some fragging energon cubes.”

Turning like one, they all stare at Starscream who is standing and supporting his frame in the open doorway to the antechamber. Moving out into the room, he goes straight for the office.

When no one moves he sighs.

“NOW! I would very much prefer that Thundercracker feeds from a cube instead of Ratchet wouldn’t you?!” The tricolored seeker bellows before he vanishes out of sight.

Coming to life like one the group spreads, Firstaid and Jazz going to the energon dispenser and pouring cubes before walking slowly towards the office. They don’t know what they are going to see. Ratchet could already be dead.

Inside the office, Starscream is greeted by the expanses of blue wings shielding Ratchet from view, but it is clear that the medic is force up against the wall. Coming closer he growls lowly when he sees Thundercracker holding his creator in an iron grip, hindering Ratchet from any attempts to retaliate or protect himself. Not that the medic is trying anything, already having given up on his life the CMO hangs weakly in the crushing force of the seekers servos like a petro rabbit caught in the seeker’s grip.

Sensing the moment Thundercracker goes for the kill, he intervene, forcing the blue seeker to lose his grip and stepping protectively between the seeker and its prey, snarling, baring his fangs and flaring his wings in a clear threat for the blue seeker to back off.

Slumping to the floor, Ratchet coughs but doesn’t move.

Enraged yellow optics meeting equally enraged orange; the seekers are in a standoff. Starscream knows on instinct that Thundercracker can take him down easily; still he stands defiant, rising his wings even further, showing no sign of submission.

/Starscream, don’t./ the tricolored seeker hears a third voice carefully say, seeing Skywarps black frame in the corner of his optics.

A weak hope blossoms in his spark, only to be squashed the instant he realize the black and purple seeker is standing supportive by Thundercracker.

Sensing the rage in his mate, Skywarp wisely keeps out of the conflict. Having seen plenty of encounters among seekers, he recognizes the situation all too well.

If Starscream just hadn’t interfered.

Then again, he understands why the tricolored seeker came to the defense of the grounder. But had Ratchet been a seeker and Starscream raised among his own kin, the tricolored seeker would never have done this foolish move.

The grounder clearly has done something to challenge the Winglord, and now Starscream have to pay for coming to his creator’s aid.

/This isn’t what you think Starscream. Submit, your creator is no longer in danger, you are./ Skywarp whimpers.

Confusion flickers in the tricolored seekers optics.

/What do you mean?/ Starscream asks.

/Your creator has challenged our Winglord. Thundercracker is in his right to kill him. Coming to his defense, you are now the challenger./ the black and purple seeker answers in a shaky tone.

Yellow optics widening, Starscream turns his attention to Ratchet.

“What did you do?!” he growls.

“What?” Ratchet looks up confused.

“What did you DO?!” Starscream growls, anger slowly showing.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Ratchet answers, truly not understanding.

“You have challenged him.” The tricolored seeker growls while pointing a claw towards the blue seeker. “You must have done something to do that. So again Ratchet: What. Did. You. Do.”

“I just gave them the serum.” The medic almost whispers.

“And I guess with your startling personality, you didn’t ask their consent?” Starscream snorts.

“Did you even stop to think, that they didn’t even need it. Me yes, them no. Ratchet, you have raised a seeker, and still you make this mistake thinking them just like every other patient. We are resilient; I only suffered because of the damned Trojan.” Starscream sighs in exasperation, the fact that he is up and moving around only cycles after he almost died proof enough to his statement.

Glancing towards the threatening display Thundercracker shows he can imagine the Winglords outrage at Ratchets treatment.

Ratchet in his own domain is a force to reckon and the medic tends to be insensitive, direct and dominating while working, something he should have predicted Thundercracker would react badly to, and with the medic forcing the serum upon not only Skywarp but Thundercracker too...

He guesses Ratchet is lucky even surviving doing it.

Well, he almost hadn’t.

Turning his attention back to the two seekers, he lets out a sigh.

/How do I solve this?/ he asks.

/Usually it is a fight to the death, challenging the Winglord is questioning his power, but that is something only done among dominants. You are a submissive, you can’t be the Winglord and you stand no chance against him./ Skywarp explains, knowing that none of them will like the only available solution.

/The only way for you to come out of this alive is to submit and show submission willingly./Skywarp tells him, the black and purple seeker cringing when he see understanding dawning in the other submissive.

/You don’t mean-/ Starscream stops without finishing the sentence.

/Yes./ Skywarp nods.

With slumped wings Starscream lowers his gaze to the floor.

/No waiting to trine then?/ he asks softly.

/No./ Skywarp confirms. /And no gentle I am afraid./ the black and purple seeker murmurs glancing at Thundercracker before he leaves the room.

Optics going to the blue seeker, Starscream feels how his whole frame is trembling at the menacing display that is Thundercracker with the orange optics solely focused on him. This is not his Thundercracker. This is his Winglord. And there will be no mercy.

With a last glance down at Ratchet, he moves on unsteady legs and leaves the room, following Skywarp and sensing Thundercrackers looming presence on his back.

Taking the cubes from Firstaid and Jazz he looks at the ruined door to where he has been resting.

No, that wouldn’t do.

Moving to one of the other antechambers, he keys it open with a free claw and goes inside. Placing the cubes on a stand at the door, he turns to face the blue seeker.

Not expecting Thundercracker to take hold of him and slam him flush against the wall, rattling his wings he gasps when he feels how his internals complain in pain at the impact. In shock he looks startled up at the blue seeker. Meeting ice cold optics, the orange now almost pure white he trembles as Thundercracker corners him against the wall, pressing their frames flush against each other.

Outside the room Skywarp keeps the grounders from entering the antechamber. The autobots begin to move towards the room when they hear pained yelps from the tricolored seeker as Thundercracker slams Starscream against the wall and begins the punishment, but is stopped by the black and purple seeker. Hissing, showing his fangs and flashing his claws in a menacing display of his own, Skywarp keeps them away from the door, stopping them in interfering and guarding his Winglord while the seeker punishes the submissive.

Cold yellow optics looks at Ratchet; Skywarp knows that what Starscream has to go through is all that grounders fault. He yearns to stand between the two seekers and shield Starscream from the pain, but knows well enough that that won’t stop Thundercracker.

You never interfere with a fight among dominants, and even if Starscream is submissive, the whole ordeal springs from Ratchet posing himself as dominant to the Winglord. No seeker, dominant or submissive is foolish enough to do that unless they have the intent and power to kill the Winglord.

/Stupid grounder./ he hisses at the medic as more sounds comes from the room. Skywarp knows the instant Thundercracker mounts Starscream, the flare of arousal through their bond and the particularly pained scream from the tricolored seeker when his valve is penetrated for the very first time is telling. Grimacing at the scream, he feels how his own valve clenches in sympathy, Thundercracker is never gentle when punishing like this. Watching the grounders tense at the scream he takes a sadistic comfort in the dread he senses coming from them.

Letting out scream after scream as Thundercracker shreds his wings, digging deep and almost tearing them from his frame, Starscream struggles to remain still and not fight against the Winglord. Whimpering at the pain filling his frame, still sore and aching from the orn before, he screams out the pain, not able to do anything else to keep himself from retaliating.

Feeling how his legs fail him as the pain grow, he is roughly lifted by the larger blue seeker, steadied and carried to the berth.

Dumped there on his hurting wings he whimpers weakly.

Then Thundercracker is there above him, forcing his legs apart and Starscream feels the spike extend.

Trembling, not feeling aroused in any way with every sensor in his frame alight with pain not pleasure he tries to remember how he managed to retract his valve cover those weeks ago.

Offlining his optics, focusing inward, he winces when he feels Thundercracker relax his weight on top of him, forcing his hurting wings against the surface of the berth and grinding them into it.

Managing somewhat to drown a bit of the pain out of his mind, he try to relax. Franticly trying to find a way to comply his Winglord in what the seeker expects of him, knowing there will be no reasoning, he almost cry out in relief when a new subroutine emerges willingly on his HUD.

‘Challenge protocols active, retract valve cover? Y/N?’ Flashes on his HUD as his submissive coding reacts to the coding active in Thundercracker. The coding is if nothing else programmed to secure the seeker’s survival and right now Starscream is in danger if he doesn’t comply.

Unaroused he needs to prompt the cover to slide aside, just like Thundercracker did for his spike moments before. The dominant’s spike is extended and erect, but mentally Thundercracker isn’t aroused, there are no lust, no touches sending arousal to course through any of the seekers. Solely driven by spark deep coding the spike extends and erects now to allow for the interface that needs to happen between the two seekers to reestablish their standing with each other.

By sliding aside his cover Starscream willingly submit to the dominant, showing his standing as the submissive among them, placating the fierce coding in the dominant. Had it just been some regular dispute, the dominant would have been less rough and ruthless, but this is a dispute involving Thundercrackers stance as Winglord, and there is no mercy. Starscream needs to learn and the only way is making mistakes and NEVER do them again.

Thrusting into the open valve Thundercracker grunts as he sheaths himself to the hilt, ignoring the pained scream from the submissive. Withdrawing almost completely before he thrusts in again, burying himself completely again, he sets a rapid punishing pace. With the unused valve setting the nodes along his spike on fire, arousal begins to flare and groans of pleasure fills the room together with the pained whimpers escaping Starscreams vocalizer.

Breems of pure agony pass for the tricolored seeker before he senses a change in Thundercracker. Above him he sees the dominant sag, his pace faltering before the tension slowly bleeds from the rigid blue wings and the look in the now once again orange optics become less cold, more caring, more there.

/Thundercracker?/ he whispers, pain and uncertainty clear in his voice.

/Starscream./ the blue seeker groans, his spike twitching inside the valve rippling around it in pain.

Feeling the pleasurable pangs shoot through his spike and settle in his spark he lowers his helm to rest at Starscreams neck. He should resume, take his pleasure, make sure the lesson is learned, the punishment dealt.

But, this is Starscream.

One of the most innocent among his seekers, barely more than a youngling in mind and his coding has just forced him to take the seeker.

Scenting the copious amounts of energon oozing from the wounds done to the wings, he begins to move away from the clearly hurting seeker.

Panicking Starscream reaches for the blue seeker when Thundercracker withdraws from him. Sitting up, following the retreating frame, he hisses when the spike’s angle in his valve presses at his sore valve lining. Then Thundercracker pulls out of him and he feels the instant pool of energon flowing from his valve showing the severe damage done during the punishment.

/I am so sorry Thundercracker./ Starscream begins to plead, hissing at the sting in his valve. /I didn’t mean to, he didn’t mean to… You don’t know how Ratchet is and I… I thought I told him about everything…/ the seeker blabbers until Thundercracker silences him with a servo to his mouth.

/Don’t remind me of it!/ he growls, already feeling how the small bits of memory fed by the words causes the coding to stir again from where it has gone dormant. /I don’t want to complete this with you Starscream; you hurt enough as it is for another session. It is gone…for now, sated, there is no need to apologize; you already have, by submitting. Do you understand?/Thundercracker press, knowing that Starscream needs to know everything is okay between them again.

/But you aren’t finished./ Starscream states in confusion, referring to the still extended and erect spike between Thundercrackers legs.

/I usually do finish Starscream, but all this happened because you don’t understand your own culture. Had it been Skywarp doing this, I would have finished making sure the lesson is learned. But I don’t want to hurt you unnecessarily for something you didn’t know in the first place. Next time your creator oversteps the line however, he is dead and you don’t interfere, am I clear?!/ Thundercracker finishes the explanation with a vicious growl.

Incredulous yellow optics stares into deadly serious orange, and silence commence.

/Am I clear?!/ Thundercracker press after a breem of silence, demanding the right answer to his order.

When Starscream doesn’t answer but just stares, Thundercracker forces him down again going for his neck, fangs piercing his energon line while the dentas apply pressure.

/Am I clear?!/ He snarls to the silent tricolored seeker, hearing Starscream whimper.

Feeling fluids trickling against his cheek, the blue seeker withdraws and looks down into optics flowing with running energon tears, the tears spilling freely and traveling down Starscreams cheeks to pool under the helm.

The seeker still hasn’t said anything, and Thundercracker don’t know what to do to get Starscream to understand.

/I don’t want to hurt you./ he tells the tricolored seeker in a soft voice, lips returning to the leaking energon line and nibbling gently, soothing away the pain. /But you need to follow my orders, or I might have to or someone else do./ he murmurs into Starscreams audial.

A ragged breath leaves Starscreams vocalizer, his helm lolling to the side, opening himself to the dominant, inviting Thundercracker to do more. He don’t know what he is doing, he just know the feeling of Thundercrackers lips to his neck is nice and soothing. And the hushed voice whispering in his audio is coaxing.

Still the tears flow from his optics as Thundercracker resumes his nibbling only to turn to outright crying as the pleasure growing in his frame drowns out all the hurt. So many feelings are warring inside him who he can’t control, that they overpower him and he is left no more than a ruined mess beneath the dominant at the gentle touches. He know he loves the seeker above him, just like Sarah told him, he can no longer deny it, but Thundercracker hurt him, almost killed his creator, and now demands that he don’t interfere if Ratchet risks his life again.

Trying to ground himself, to push all the feelings and thoughts away, he clings to the blue seeker, servos unconsciously going for the blue wings, fondling the edges nervously.

Hissing at the pleasurable touch to his wings, Thundercracker lifts his helm and looks into Starscreams optics.

Seeing all the hurt, the fear, but also the caring and beginning lust in them, a gentle claw caresses a cheek, removing some of the tears traveling.

/I need your obedience, Starscream./ he murmurs. /I am your protector, the one to shield you in disputes, to fight for you. But I demand obedience in turn for my support. As long as you obey, no one is going to hurt you while my spark still pulses, but if you disobey I have to punish you accordingly or I will be seen as weak and challenged by other dominants. We aren’t grounders, Starscream. We are seekers, and I understand that our society is different from how you have been raised. But I need you to support me among our kin for me to remain strong in power. Do you understand?/ the blue seeker continue to murmur softly.

Faintly glazed over optics looks up at him, and a slow nod is all the response he gets from the tricolored seeker.

A deep sigh leaves the dominant.

/I have no intention in killing your creator Starscream. I understand his importance to you, and am grateful just like Skywarp that he took you in and saved you. I do know I owe him. But if he challenges me on dominance I can do nothing against my coding. Don’t fear for him on small disputes Starscream. Only challenges against my power as Winglord are to the death. And I trust you to make him understand./ Thundercracker explains, trying to quell the fear still lingering in the yellow optics.

Lowering his helm, resting it forehead to forehead against Starscream he allows his optics to show all the deep feelings he hasn’t revealed completely to the submissive. With lips almost touching, both seekers locks optics and just stops moving for several breems while Starscream recognizes all the feelings showing in the no longer cold and serious orange optics. Now they are burning with an unstoppable fire and the tricolored seeker feels how his spark trembles under the onslaught of feelings the blue seeker conveys.

/I have said it before Starscream. You are mine. Not just one of my seekers, but mine personally. My submissive, my trinemate and my mate when that time come./ the blue seeker explains in a low and sinfully promising voice before he connects their lips in a deep searing kiss, invading Starscreams mouth with his glossa, tasting and exploring. It is still new to him to do this, but recalling the effect on himself when Starscream did it; it fits the intensity of what he feels for this seeker.

Reciprocating in the kiss, Starscream willingly allow Thundercracker to invade him, moaning into the feeling of the glossa mercilessly mapping out his mouth, sensing the intensity and feels how his frame with a burning intensity of its own welcomes the blue seeker.

/I am yours./ Starscream manage to pant between their connected lips, gasping for air to cool his heating frame.

With a groan Thundercracker breaks their kiss and looks down. How he has longed to hear those words from this seeker, to hear Starscream willingly give in to him.

They yet have to complete the Trine Challenge, but that is now only a ritual. Starscream has accepted his trinemates, confessing his willing submission to the dominant in the trine.

Looking down at the submissive, open and inviting underneath him, Thundercrackers arousal grows and his spike begin to throb with need.

Then he sees all the energon laying spilled on the berth they are on, the tricolored seeker practically soaked in the substance, and he mercilessly quells some of his arousal.

/Prompt your diagnostics./ he orders the submissive, his lust soundly in his voice. Overjoyed he watches the tricolored seeker obey when the yellow optics goes distant.

/Damages? Levels? Warnings?/ he asks of Starscream when the optics become less distant.

Attempting to hide a sly smirk Starscream looks up at the worry in the blue seekers optics.

/Plenty of damages, enough warnings to hinder my sight and levels just barely above 37%./ He reports, his features schooled, not showing any feelings.

With an angry growl, Thundercracker begin to move away from the submissive, only to be stopped by a firm grip to one of his arms.

/But completely repaired valve./ Starscream adds, as he stops Thundercracker from leaving, no longer able to hide the sly smirk.

/You still need to feed./ the dominant scolds, wrestling free of the grip to his arm.

/That can be remedied easily./ The tricolored seeker laughs feeling how his own frame course with a burning need.

Allowing Thundercracker to move, Starscream slowly rises from the berth to sit on the edge, feeling how his systems complain at the movement.

Supporting himself at the berth he slowly moves to where the energon cubes is waiting by the door.

Grabbing the cubes, his balance falter and Thundercracker just manages to catch him before he fall to his knees.

/Starscream?/ the blue seeker asks, concerned.

/Don’t worry. Just need a moment./ the tricolored seeker pants, feeling his gyros spin. /Just need a moment to regain my balance./

Squawking when Thundercracker suddenly lifts him and carries him back to the berth he can’t stop the scowl when he is placed on the energon drenched berth.

/I could have walked myself./ he argues.

Sitting up on the berth, he hands one of the cubes to Thundercracker before he lifts his own and drinks the fuel in large gulps.

Sighing contently when the fuel gush down his intakes and into his tank, feeling how his frame begins to process the much needed energy he studies the blue seeker with a smile hidden behind the cube still held to his lips.

Clumsily taking the cube, not knowing what he is to do with it, Thundercracker sniffs at the container housing the liquid fuel. Scenting the fuel, he looks at Starscream and tries to mirror the tricolored seeker.

Lifting the cube to his mouth, he tips it just like Starscream, but where Starscream knows to accommodate for the fangs, having taken his fuel from cubes almost his whole life, knowing to drink from a corner, Thundercracker takes it from the side, and instead of hitting his lips and enter his mouth the fuel splash down his frame when the cube connects with the blue seekers fangs instead of his lips.

Coughing when the sight of the blue seeker covered in energon causes him to laugh just as he takes a gulp of his own cube, Starscream almost falls off the berth in fits, fighting to down the fuel and stop laughing.

Scandalized Thundercracker looks at the seeker trashing in mirth, glaring ominously at the cube and then down his frame.

Managing to regain control, Starscream jumps off the berth, reenergized by the fuel and walks to get the last cube from the stand.

/Let me show you./ he says turning to the dominant with the cube in servo.

Lifting the cube and turning a corner to Thundercrackers lips, he gently nudges the seeker to open, smiling encouragingly.

When the fuel slowly begins to flow down his intakes, the blue seeker reaches to hold the cube himself, and Starscream allows him. Feeling energized, with levels now well above 60%, he studies the sight before him.

With optics following the drops of energon dripping down the powerful frame his gaze slowly settles on the spike still standing proud between the strong legs, dripping with prefluids and clearly showing the arousal held at bay by the dominant.

Shuddering, feeling how his valve clenches around nothing at the sight he barely manage to stifle the moan threatening to leave his vocalizer.

Supporting himself against the berth when his legs threaten to fail him as the returning arousal courses through his frame, he become aware that his valve no longer drips with the purple color of energon, instead the inside of his thighs are drenched in clear lubricant, more sticky than the fuel previously flooding his valve.

Moaning wantonly when touches are applied to his wings, his legs finally give in, and he crumbles to the floor, resting on bent legs and servos.

Following Starscream down to the floor, still touching the white wings, fondling the tips and sensing the flaring arousal in the submissive, Thundercracker purrs appreciatively.

Starscream is beautiful shaking in need.

Kneeling behind the submissive, he grinds his spike against the leaking valve, groaning at the feeling of Starscream this open and wanting. With his spike nudging gently at the valve, feeling it spams and trying to drag him in, he smears his prefluids around the opening and feels how his spike is soaked in Starscreams lubricants.

Then he lowers his weight onto the submissive, enjoying the trembles traveling the frame beneath him.

/I am going to claim you Starscream. I can feel how you long for me to take you, make you mine./ Thundercracker purrs seductively into Starscreams audial before his spike slides into the quivering valve.

Gasping as every sensor in his frame is alight with pleasure when the spike activates every node in his valve with flaring arousal Starscream throws his helm back and howls in pleasure. Then Thundercracker stops moving, the spike sheathed completely inside the valve, only to withdraw agonizingly slowly setting the nodes alight again and forcing another scream of pleasure from the tricolored seeker.

Having mercy on the submissive, Thundercracker bites dominatingly down on the back of Starscreams neck before he pushes into him again, giving the tricolored seeker a way to ground himself in the pleasure. The pain is barely felt in the onslaught and Thundercracker isn’t digging his fangs deep, just enough to cause the needed pain.

/So responsive./ the dominant groans through his dentas as he push into the valve again, feeling how it ripples around him, this time dragging him in invitingly.

A needy moan is the only sound escaping Starscream this time, using the small leverage Thundercracker has provided in all the pleasure, but even the pain itself causes pleasure to flare this time, and it confuses him for a moment before he is drowning in another merciless onslaught of pure pleasure.

/Yours, only yours./ Starscream pants breathily, moving into the thrusts and feeling how his charge grows.

/No./ the dominant corrects as he pull out, a smile evident in his voice. /Mine and Skywarps. Our seeker. Our Third. Our trinemate./ he elaborates with a rumbling voice thrusting in and out with every word said, driving Starscream insane with pleasure.

Sensing how the submissive is about to succumb to overload, his valve rippling violently around the spike, Thundercracker racks his claws down the still oozing white expanses of the submissives wings, prompting the seeker to lose control and enter overload then and there. Roaring out in his own overload and filling the valve clenching painfully in overload around his spike, keeping him buried deeply inside Starscream as he releases his coding into the submissive, he sags and slumps onto the back of the tricolored seeker.

A few kliks later he retreats, his spike retracting and he withdraws completely from the tricolored seeker. The scent of mixed fluids lingers heavily in the air and he can see few drops of his transfluids drip from the trembling valve before the cover closes it and seals his coding firmly inside the submissive.

Unable to keep himself resting on all four Starscream slumps onto the floor on his side panting heavily with his spark spinning crazily in his chest and his valve still clenching in post overload spasms.

With a servo he gently touches his midsection where he can feel the transfluids fill his gestation chamber, it is an odd feeling, not nauseating, and not unpleasant but still something that feels incomplete. With a deep sigh he turns his helm to look up at the dominant hovering above him, optics dulled and frame slack and sated.

Looking down at the submissive, Thundercracker wants no more than to lay down and nuzzle into the back of Starscream, cradle him and sooth him into a nice post overload recharge, but he can feel Skywarp through their bond, and the black and purple seeker isn’t unaffected by what he has heard through the door and felt from his mate. Glancing at the door, Thundercracker knows that the instant he is through it, Skywarp is going to pounce on him, it is a miracle that the seeker hasn’t already teleported in to get his needs sated and to fuss around Starscream.

Kneeling down beside the tricolored seeker, he scoops Starscream up in an embrace and gently nuzzles against a cheek, murmuring nonsense and promises to the seeker to be back, before he gently places the tricolored seeker on the floor again. Standing he watch as Starscream curls in on himself, cradling his midsection protectively, and Thundercrackers gaze softens even more than it already has. He knows there will be no seekerlings out of this, the Heat not active in Starscream yet, but he senses that it is soon to come, and he looks forward to the orn he and Starscream is going to spark a new little seeker.

A desperate ping in his spark returns him to the present, and he smiles before he kneels one last time to lay a gentle kiss on Starscreams forehead, then he rises from the ground again and walks towards the door.

Skywarp needs him.

When the door keys open Starscream faintly hears the high pitched keen and the following squeal from the black and purple seeker when Thundercracker grabs his mate and drags off with the seeker to sate the need in the submissive.

While Thundercracker is busy elsewhere, Ratchet hurries into the room with Starscream and is appalled by the sight that greets him. The berth is drenched in drying energon enough so even the floor is soaked, and in it all Starscream lays curled into a ball on the floor unmoving.

Kneeling by the seeker, he reaches a trembling servo towards Starscream fearing that the seeker is badly hurt. But at the touch Starscream turns his helm and dulled yellow optics greets Ratchet, furthermore a lazy smile is on the lips and there is no sign of pain.

“Starscream, are you alright?” he asks, concerned that there is internal damages he can’t see.

“Sore, stiff, but never felt better.” Starscream answers before he begins to laugh at his own words. He is still in an elated state after his overload, he feels good, even the slight pain is something that contributes to the sensation of feeling good in his frame. He must be crazy to think the torture that Thundercracker put him through to be something just as mind-blowingly satisfying as the claiming the dominant has done taking him without coding demanding, but nevertheless both the pain and the pleasure has contributed to his ‘feeling good’ state of mind.

Seeing the deepening frown on Ratchet he sobers and the laugh dies down.

“I’m fine, truly Ratchet.” He answers more seriously.

And he is.

His wings are almost healed, the wounds Thundercracker has racked in the plating to cause Starscream to overload the only lingering open wounds. The rest of his plating no longer oozes energon.

With a skeptical glance Ratchet scans the seeker to be sure, and breathe a sigh in relief when everything comes back functioning. Only the damage on the wings and strained wing hinges is reported and that he knows the seeker is able to handle on his own.

Slumping down beside the seeker, finally relaxing in the knowledge that Starscream is okay, he looks solemnly at the seeker.

“I am so sorry.” The medic says in a sad tone.

“As long as you never do something like that to either of them again, everything is fine Ratchet. Thundercracker is a dominant among seekers, I thought I had explained to you what that meant…” the seeker waves away the apology.

“Eh, well I think I kind of didn’t listen back then. Guess I was all too worried about you being with the seekers at all to listen.” Ratchet murmurs in another apology.

“Lesson learned?” Starscream snorts.

With a solemn look Ratchet nods, returning his gaze to the floor and the energon staining it as it had dripped from the edges of the berth.

Then the medic frowns.

“Thundercracker?” he asks, hearing the name for the first time.

“And Skywarp.” Starscream adds with a smile.

Then it is Starscreams turn to frown and turn his optics on his creator.

“There is something I don’t understand Ratchet. Why did Megatron refer to the seekers as his?” he asks in confusion.

At the question, Ratchet jerks his helm up and looks startled at the seeker.

‘Frag.’ The medic curses.

While Ratchet tends to his creation, the rest of the autobots are witnesses to the close interaction between Thundercracker and Skywarp.

Most of the autobots have only had to deal with the seekers during battle where the seekers are ruthless killers so the sight of Thundercracker swiftly lifting the black and purple seeker in a gentle embrace and carrying off with the seeker while Skywarp clings needy to him shocks them to the core.

The mating itself shocks them even more, and Prowls battle computer fritz somewhere in the act as the seekers uncaringly of their surroundings settles in the middle of the medbay. Releasing his spike, Thundercracker shows quite an offense against the grounders, with his threat assessment allowing the release this close to known enemies, not sensing the autobots as any threat to the dominant at all.

Whining underneath the dominant, Skywarp grinds up against the spike, releasing his valve cover. The arousal burning in him is merciless, and the scent of Starscreams lubricants mixed with transfluids still lingering on Thundercrackers plating drives his arousal even further.

When Thundercracker penetrates him the black and purple seeker buckles up against the blue seeker at the feeling of the spike entering him, wanting and needing more. Grinding their frames together the temperature in both seekers rises and pulls them closer and closer to overload.

Then Thundercracker gains a strange look in his optics, and with a wicked smile he lowers his lips to Skywarp audio.

/He gave into me, he is ours./ the blue seeker whispers with the same sinful voice used before he kissed Starscream.

Yellow optics widening, Skywarp succumbs to overload and drags Thundercracker with him both seekers howling out their pleasure.

Coming out of overload, Skywarp pants heavily before he finds his voice.

/You- You claimed him?/ he breaths shakily.

Seeing Thundercrackers smile widening he knows the answer.

Shuddering with a new sort of pleasure the black and purple seeker mirrors the smile.

Their moment of joy is shattered kliks later by a deafening screech from the antechamber and as they look up they see Starscream fury incarnate storm out of the room, going to one of the squares filling the wall and picking one of the strange things inside it. Seeing the tricolored seeker coming at them and the fury in his optics, none of them moves, too shocked at the sight.

Pouncing on the two seekers, Starscream throws the stunned Thundercracker off of Skywarp. Then straddling the black and purple seeker, Starscream forces Skywarps helm to the side, straining the wires and cables in the neck before he brings down the thing he has taken from the square on the wall.

With a soundly snap the resilient collar around the submissives neck succumbs to Starscreams onslaught with the aid of the laser scalpel he has taken from the cabinet and rids Skywarp of the menacing collar.

The tricolored seeker is furious that Ratchet hasn’t told him anything about what Megatron has done to the two seekers sooner. Cursing his creator for wanting to protect him unnecessarily he growls lowly.

Whimpering when Starscream roughly removes the collar around his neck completely Skywarp stares up at the tricolored seeker in fear.

Seeing the fear Starscream throws the laser away and gently nuzzles into the freed wires and cabling, trying to sooth.

/It is okay Skywarp. Not you I am angry at./ he murmurs, lips gently mapping out the spots where the collar has compressed the wiring.

Collecting the laser from the floor, Thundercracker looks at the small device then to the discarded collar and then the two submissives. He had become custom to the collar that he himself had been unable to remove that long time ago, and he is puzzled at how easily Starscream managed to remove it.

Lifting his helm from Skywarps neck, Starscream looks towards the blue seeker and he can see the clear puzzlement.

/Made to subdue seekers, needed grounder tool to remove it. Creator told me the purpose. I am SO sorry Thundercracker./ he explains in a shaky tone and there is tears in his optics again, recalling what Ratchet told him about the collar.

Remembering the little seekerling he fed that first orn he came to the seekers, he shudders.

When Ratchet emerges from the antechamber he orders the autobots to leave, even Firstaid, and then he leaves as the last himself, allowing the seekers moments of their own. Seeing the pain in Starscream when he learned about the atrocities done to the two seekers he regrets not having said something earlier, but they had long ago decided to shield him as much as possible.

Now with Megatron claiming the seekers as his, he had had to reveal everything, and it had been painful to watch Starscream realize all the hurt Skywarp had been put through, all the terminations.

Ratchet only vaguely mentioned that Thundercracker was compromised too, sensing that the knowledge of the collar was more than enough at the moment for his creation.

There was no need to freak the tricolored seeker even more with the knowledge that Megatron directly controlled Thundercracker and could make the seeker do as he pleased.

But he had to know, when he recovered from the first shock.

With a last glance Ratchet closes the door to the medbay and locks it.

No one would disturb the seekers for the next cycles.


	31. Chapter 31

“Mind telling us what all this was about?” Optimus asks Ratchet when the small group of autobots gathers in the rec room.

Clutching his energon cube tightly Ratchet stares down into the fuel as he thinks.

“I don’t know everything myself, guess I have to talk to Starscream when I get the chance, to know exactly what happened. But I guess the main reason is me being well me…” the CMO mumbles, shockingly subdued.

“You threw wrenches at them?!” the twins gasps sharing mischievous looks.

“NO!” the medic bellows angrily.

Stifling a smile of his own the Prime silently order the twins to behave. He had briefly glanced into the antechamber before they left the medbay and the sight of energon splashed on almost every surface was not something to make fun with. The issue clearly had been deadly serious, which was why he wanted to know.

“Explain.” He asks the medic, returning to the hunched CMO.

While Ratchet explains what little he knows, the three seekers enjoy each other’s company inside the medbay undisturbed.

Still sitting on the black and purple seeker, Starscream continues to try and sooth the fear that has taken root in Skywarp. Lowering his frame to the black and purple seeker he croons soothingly into an audial while he gently caresses the freed neck. He can feel how his still flowing tears is wetting the black plating, but he doesn’t care. Sensing the increased pulsing of Skywarps spark, still fearful, he nuzzles the cheek, cooing soothingly.

/It is okay. Everything is okay now./ He tells the other submissive, murmuring the words softly.

Hearing Skywarp take in a deep breath, he lifts his helm and looks into the other pair of yellow optics.

/What did you do?/ Skywarp asks shakily. He can feel something missing around his neck, so used to the presence of the collar that it has become a part of him, and now that it is gone it feels strange.

Hesitating Starscream looks at the confusion in Skywarp, then he looks up and towards Thundercracker, realizing that they don’t know.

/Your terminated creations-/he begin, only to stop and hesitate when Thundercracker suddenly looms dangerously above him.

However before Thundercracker manages to silence him completely, warning him about how delicate the topic is to Skywarp, Starscream looks at the collar and his expression hardens.

/It killed them./ he states coldly, pointing at the device still held by Thundercracker.

Everything stops for kliks, no movement or sound is made among them.

Then Starscream feels how Skywarp goes rigid beneath him and he looks down in optics gone distant. 

Dragged into old memories Skywarp re-experiences the pain and torture as well as the spark wrenching pain as every newspark he has had until his heat disabled dislodges from his spark.

With a keen the black and purple seeker curls into a tight ball and trembles beneath the tricolored seeker.

Looking up Starscream fears what Thundercracker is going to do.

But when he looks into the orange optics he sees the pain mirrored.

There is no anger, no resent, no punishment coming. Instead Thundercracker kneels beside them, and drags the both of them into a close embrace, murmuring and nuzzling the both of them.

/How do you know this?/ Thundercracker asks in a careful tone, looking down into Starscreams optics.

/Creator told me. We got… the autobots got the grounder who installed it among them./ the tricolored seeker explains. Seeing the flash of anger in the orange optics, he hurry on /It wasn’t meant to kill your newsparks, it just became such a tool…/ he trails off weakly.

/We became spark bonded that orn./ Thundercracker murmurs absentmindedly as the flash of anger leaves him, suffering his own painful memories and not seeing the confusion Starscream shows at the unknown term.

The Winglord is never going to forget the orn of the attack, how could he with all the pain it caused to him and his mate. /Skywarp was almost dead, but thank The Sky Above that we were meant for each other like that./ he continues and then shakes away the painful memories of Skywarps almost shattered spark. 

Looking down at the black and purple ball of a seeker currently curled securely in his and Starscreams embrace, he can’t stop feeling how he failed as protector back then. He was subdued all too easily by the grounders, he should have fought more, killed those who hurt his mate that severely.

With a pained roar he rises from the ground, letting Starscream slump onto the floor with Skywarp before he turn and rips a berth from its socket and throws it against a wall creating a large dent and efficiently destroying the cabinets resting against said wall, causing all the tools to clatter to the floor. Then he slumps, his wings almost lowering completely on his back.

The anger doesn’t drown out all the hurt, the guilt, the feeling of weakness filling the Winglord, and he stays there with his back to the two submissives.

Then a soft trembling voice escapes him.

/Thank you./ the blue seeker whispers.

Before he knows it, he is back at the two other seekers, kneeling in front of them. With servos covering both submissives cockpits in affectionate caresses, Thundercracker allows a single tear to leave his optics.

/Thank you./ he says again, this time his tone is more firm as he looks into Starscreams optics.

Looking down at Skywarp, caressing the cockpit where the seekerling should have been, now with the knowledge that they just as well could have lost all their born creations, his optics harden, and when he look up again, there is determination in them.

Lifting Skywarp, he motions for Starscream to follow him.

/He needs the sky./ Thundercracker answers the unasked question.

They are all in need of getting outside. The two wild seekers have never been grounded for this long through their existence and the need to get airborne is growing.

With wings perking at those words, Starscream realizes that this is going to be the first time he is to fly with the both of them.

Feeling how his spark swells at the thought he wastes no time unlocking and keying the door to open, allowing Thundercracker to move out in the corridor.

Activating the comm. at the entrance he contacts Ratchet to let the medic know they are leaving. Then he follows the blue seeker down the corridor and takes the lead to lead them through the narrow passageways.

When he opens the exit and they wait for it to open enough to accommodate for their wings, he senses how Thundercracker begins to relax. The blue wings becomes less stiff and rigid as they start to slowly fan and twitch, the sensory net in the wings coming to life with data when weak blows of air touches sensors not having sensed anything for a whole orn being inside the space ship.

Stepping out of the space ship completely, Thundercracker looks longingly up at the sky, flexing his wings he fights against the urge to just jump and fire his thrusters to get airborne.

He can’t take to the sky.

Not yet.

Looking down at Skywarp who is still curled into his plating while mumbling in his lingering nightmare of pain and torture the blue seeker flares and fans his wings, causing the air around them to move in patterns that the black wings slowly registers. Mirroring Thundercracker, Starscream steps closer and flares his wings in fanning patterns of their own, enjoying the feeling of the touch to his plating. Watching how their moving wings slowly cause Skywarps’ to twitch and try to copy the patterns he smiles when the yellow optics offline and then online a moment later as they slowly draws the black and purple seeker from his nightmare and back into the real world.

Looking straight up, the first Skywarp sees is the sky way up above him and his wings begin to twitch more violently, wanting to get airborne.

With Skywarp uncurling, Thundercracker finally bends in his legs and sets off into the air, igniting his thrusters and blasting clear of the crack a klik later and streaking higher and higher into the element every seeker is sparked to master.

Releasing Skywarp at a decent height, he throws the submissive free of his grip and watches as the wings unfurls completely from the frame and begins to flare, keeping the black and purple seeker hovering the klik it takes the thrusters to ignite.

Looking up at the display, Starscream follows the black and purple frame as Skywarp uncurl completely in the sky, awed at the smoothness with which the black and purple seeker embraces the air around him and elegantly transforms into his tetrajet.

Mirroring him Thundercracker soon joins the black and purple seeker in alt mode, both dancing in the air in patterns synched by thousands of vorns of being trined with each other.

Taking in the display of the pair Starscream laughs joyously as he ignites his own thrusters and blasts into the sky and joins the two other seekers moments later.

When Starscream joins them however, the playfulness stops and the three just fly beside each other with Thundercracker in the middle, Skywarp on his right and Starscream finding his spot to the left.

Then emboldened by the feeling of the sky all around him Starscream begins to push the other two, using his faster speed to challenge them to keep up, and soon he is in the lead with Thundercracker on his left and Skywarp on his right, both several frame lengths behind him as they try to keep up and outrun him.

Suddenly Skywarp vanishes from his detection and he feels how the air is filling with pressure. Reemerging in a purple mist slightly in front of him, Skywarp taunts him with vibrating wings forcing him to deviate to avoid running directly into the black and purple seeker.

Laughter sounds from both of the wilder seekers at the squawk leaving Starscream, and it takes a moment before the tricolored seeker regains his control.

Feeling a burning fire in his spark, Starscream forces his engines to their limits silencing both seekers as he pass by Skywarp easily and increases the distances to the black and purple seeker remarkably in few kliks while making taunts of his own.

Lost in the playfulness the tricolored seeker realizes too late that their flight has brought them above one of the cities in the region, and with that into the humans’ flight paths.

The first thing that draws him to the danger is when he realizes that neither Skywarp nor Thundercracker is chasing him anymore; instead Skywarp has fallen back beside the Winglord. Seeing Skywarp support Thundercracker in this formation Starscream frowns, until he senses the pings showing the civilian planes in flight above the city.

With a roll he banks and leaves the path directly into the center of the city, hoping that the other two seekers are going to follow him, but with the sight of Skywarp protecting Thundercrackers right wing like that, he knows on instinct that the black and purple seeker is going to follow the Winglord and that Thundercracker is primed for battle.

While he deviates from the path he feels how his coding wants him to take up the left wing, his instincts telling him that Skywarp is OFFERING him the spot on the other side of the Winglord since he yet have to trine with them. The activated yet still incomplete trine coding in his spark screams at him to take up position, to show his worthiness to his future trinemates and protect the vulnerable left side of the Winglord.

Back on Cybertron there is a reason for untrined seekers to fly alone in groups of untrined when flying into battle instead of joining the incomplete trines and complete the flight formations.

Complete trines are a power in themselves with all three seekers synched, knowing the others’ reaction on instinct through the faint bond the trine share. In an incomplete trine the two seekers share the same bond. Adding a seeker into their formation who isn’t sharing any bond with the two it is going to defend and fight together with is a great liability to the pair.

By offering up the left wing to him Skywarp shows a great deal of faith in Starscream.

Watching as the first of the civilian planes make it down to the ground safely he succumbs to the demanding code and takes up position. Sensing the aggression flowing from Thundercracker, dread fills his spark.

How is he going to defuse this situation without any humans losing their life?

The next thing he realizes as he takes up position slightly behind Thundercracker is that in the horizon streaks of human fighter jets is closing in on them, ready to fend off the seekers before they venture deeper and deeper into the country and towards the largest of the humans’ cities.

Battles among the cybertronians have teached the humans that they can’t avoid casualties when dealing with the fliers and that they sometimes have to sacrifice some to protect the majority, and the city the seekers currently are above is sacrificial. Not that the humans actually are arrogant enough to think that they have any chance against the seekers. Yet they have to try.

Coming in close the humans wastes no time firing on the seekers.

With missiles rushing towards him, Starscream realizes that this is the first time he is to join in a battle before he banks sharply to his left and avoids the incoming danger. On the other side Thundercracker and Skywarp rolls in a fluid motion, both seekers flying close by each other as they bank as well to avoid the missiles aimed at them.

Meeting up with them and taking up position again, Starscream feels dizzy as new subroutines emerge, his wings sending enormous amounts of data to his processing hub that his processor analyzes while he avoids the missiles fired at him, the whole process telling him the best ways to avoid the incoming danger. While he moves on instincts guided by the data fed him by his frame he is drawn to his HUD where energy levels is showing and where two new additions is monitored; his laser and nullray.

He can feel how the weapons are primed with energy.

The only thing he has to do is release them and fire.

Hesitating he watches as Thundercracker and Skywarp releases their lasers and shoots at the humans who scatter in an attempt to avoid the heavy energy bolts of red coming at them. Most succeed but some of the planes get hit and a part of the tricolored seeker dies inside as he watches the mangled parts of the jets fall to the ground burning, some of the cockpits colored with the humans’ life fluids.

Again he doesn’t act.

Again he fails.

The fight is short, the remaining human fighter jets retreating and Starscream breaths a breath of relief.

But then he spots it, and sensing Thundercracker and Skywarp he knows they yet have to, since the plane is on his side.

And it is civilian.

Incredulous he wonders what it is doing still in the air.

Without further thought or hesitation he banks to the left and turns his path towards the incoming plane. His movement draws attention and he senses Thundercracker and Skywarp following him this time. Cursing he increases his speed, wanting to intercept the plane before the other two gets within attack range.

Maybe he can…

Then Skywarp vanishes from detection only to appear within attack range of the little civilian plane and a bolt of laser is fired by the black and purple seeker.

A soundless agonizing scream leaves the tricolored seeker at the sight of the vicious beam traveling towards the little plane. This close he can see a red cross on the sides of it, the rest of it white…just like Ratchet. Red and white. Ambulance. Healer. His processor connects the words as he watches the plane weakly try to avoid the incoming danger.

It takes him less than a nano klik to realize it isn’t enough.

Before he knows it, his weapons are engaging and a pink streak of power is traveling against the deadly red energy bolt.

Intercepting the laser shot less than hundred feet from the plane, the air crackles with charge when the nullray shot neutralizes the energy in the red beam.

But even if the laser doesn’t hit the plane, the energy releasing as the two beams connects is enough to shake the little plane and cause the humans inside to lose control of the craft, some of the nullray effect possibly having affected the machine as well that close with the outgoing energy.

Diving to intercept the falling plane, he transforms into root mode and utilizes his speed to catch it and curls securely around it as he begins to fall with it. He can’t just keep it in the air, not with the two other seekers there, he needs to protect it, protect the humans inside.

With wings curling around himself and the plane, he shields himself and the plane from any attack that might come from the two other seekers. He don’t know how they are reacting to his interfering, and right now Thundercracker can put him through another session if it is what he has to endure to save at least these humans. The fighter jets shot at them, this plane has done nothing.

Sensing the earth coming at him at a dangerous speed his instincts scream at him that he is coming down too fast. His wings aren’t going to protect his frame from the fall, not even with their sturdier surface, not when he is protecting the plane and is making the otherwise protective shield the wings form flawed.

Severe structural damage is going to occur, but he doesn’t care.

A mile above the surface of the earth he senses the entire rocky surface beneath them. They are no longer hovering above the city. Steeling himself for the hard and painful landing, he isn’t prepared for the strong arms wrapping around him as Thundercracker grabs hold of him and forms his own protective shield around them with his blue wings completing that of Starscreams.

Then they land, the impact shaking the ground violently as both seekers and the plane comes down hard on the surface and throws debris into the air.

As the dust in the air begins to clear a large crater shows the impact site.

Slowly unfurling from his protective shield Starscream looks down at the plane and then realizes that he looks down into Thundercrackers optics as well, the dominant having taken the brunt of the force of the impact.

But there is no color in the grey optics.

Thundercracker is offline.

Shakily taking the plane and placing it a distance away from the crater, he kneels and tries to look in through the cockpit glass. Thundercracker might be offline at the moment, but he isn’t the critical among the three.

“Are you okay?” he asks the human pilots when he sees them move inside the plane.

In shock the humans stare at him, his face almost covering the whole view from the cockpit. Then they nods, silently answering the question.

Then the door to the cockpit is thrown open and another human joins the pilots.

“What happened?” the new human asks not seeing Starscream.

“Eh?” one of the pilots answers stupidly, then he turns to look at Starscream, and that draws the nurse’s attention to the seeker.

Taking a step back, all the anger vanishes from the nurse.

“You-You’re him.” The nurse stutters.

About to say more, the nurse is interrupted by voices from through the door and alarming blips of monitors alerting but the alarms is deafened by the screams of pain coming from a child.

“She needs treatment now! We have to get to medical or we are going to lose her!” voices shouts as more and more alarms activates.

At that moment Starscreams attention is drawn away since Skywarp choses this moment to land beside the Winglord, the ground shaking lightly at his landing.

/Skywarp…/ he trail off, seeing the narrow angry optics shot at him.

How is he going to make the other seeker understand his actions?

He still don’t know why Thundercracker sacrificed himself like that… not that the seeker is going to die, but he didn’t expect Thundercracker to come to his aid like that.

Checking up on Thundercracker Skywarp lets out a sound of satisfaction before he walks towards Starscream and the plane. Stopping short of almost stomping on the plane he narrows his optics at the tricolored seeker.

/It is none consumable prey… we don’t save it when it fall from the sky…/ the black and purple seeker tells him, optics filling with disdain as he looks down at the plane.

/But Skywarp, you don’t understand./ Starscream begins, fighting to find the right words.

Then he hears the wails from the child again, and he feels how a chill runs down his back strut.

/It is like Ratchet. A healer. A-And… and it carries a child, a hurt seekerling… And it is dying./ He don’t know what is wrong with the child, but with the alarms almost like an universal testimony to bad things happening he latches onto what leverage he has against the black and purple seeker. Being a carrier Skywarp surely would understand… right?

With a huff Skywarp stares down at the plane, not showing anything outward. But inside he is torn.

/Why doesn’t it transform?/ the black and purple seeker then asks, taking Starscream by surprise.

/Transform?/ the tricolored seeker asks stupidly.

/It can’t Skywarp. It isn’t like us…/ he answers before he remembers his own flaw the first time he encountered a plane.

Oh…

OH!

Crouching down to the plane, he looks into the cockpit again.

“Can I borrow one of you?” he asks carefully.

Sharing a look the humans looks uncomfortable at him.

“Why?” he is asked.

“I need to convince my fellow... No harm will come to any of you.” He answers.

Unbuckling from the seat one of the pilots nods to him and then moves down back into the plane. Moments later a door on the outside of the plane opens and a stair is lowering. Carefully stepping out, the human looks up at the imposing size of the tricolored seeker as Starscream kneels before him, eyes then moves to look at the clearly unfriendly black and purple seeker.

Lowering his servo palm up Starscream lifts it when the human is clinging to one of his claws to steady itself.

/This is what you have been killing Skywarp. The metal shell is controlled by beings like this./ he explains, not judging but seeking understanding, when he returns to the black and purple seeker, human safely in servo.

With skeptic optics the black and purple seeker takes in the sight of the small being.

/This thing is controlling that?/ Skywarp asks incredulous, studying the human and pointing at the plane.

Starscream just answers him with an eager nod.

Grunting in annoyance, the black and purple seeker lowers his helm to get a closer look at the human.

/No wings./ Skywarp states, reaching a claw towards the human and poking. A yelp from the pilot as the sharp tip touches his body causes the black and purple seeker to raise a brow.

/Delicate./ he adds.

/Extremely fragile./ Starscream supports.

/And yet they manage to master the sky./ Skywarp muses looking up into sky. Any seeker knows how destructive the forces in the air are, and with a being this delicate mastering the sky… 

Turning his attention towards the plane, Skywarp crouches down just like Starscream did moments before and looks into the cockpit only to meet the stares of several of the delicate beings. This close the screams from the child is grating on his audio.

/Seekerling, you said?/ the black and purple seeker adds as he looks up at the tricolored seeker from his position.

/Yes./ Starscream answers and he stops breathing as he watches how Skywarp process the information, the black and purple seekers optics softening slightly.

Unconsciously touching his own cockpit, Skywarp looks to the plane, then to Starscream before his gaze settles on the plane again.

A trill leaves the black and purple seeker a few kliks later. It is a sound completely devoid of any aggression or resent, used to sooth panicking seekerlings. The sound is so strange and alien that even the child trashing in pain from third degree burns stops and listens, the cries of pain silencing.

A coo follows as the child reacts to the seeker carriers sounds, Skywarp solely focusing on the child/seekerling and Starscream marvels at the sight of the deadly wilder seeker trying to sooth a human child.

/Skywarp./ he interrupts. /It needs help or it is going to die./ he adds softly.

Watching the black wings stiffen at his words, he knows he has the black and purple seeker right where he wants him.

Lowering the pilot towards the plane again, he turns his full attention to the other submissive, going for the ‘kill’.

Drowning the guilt by playing Skywarp like this, he adds the last information.

/You are the only one who have a chance to secure its survival./ he adds, gently murmuring the words to the other.

This time Skywarp shifts his helm to look up at him, the black wings regaining movements as they begin to tremble.

/The shell needs to arrive at what the beings call an airport. I am certain help will be there for the seekerling. But it is still far and the shell can’t get airborne here./ Starscream carry on explaining, gesturing to the rocky surface all around them.

Standing completely, Skywarp looks down at the plane, contemplating. Then he looks at Thundercracker before he returns his gaze on Starscream.

Before him Starscream watches as the yellow optics softens completely.

/This is confusing./ the black and purple seeker adds.

Then he takes steps closer to the plane and crouch before it again, poking gently at the plating. Satisfied when the metal doesn’t just crumble at his touch he nods absentmindedly and Starscream don’t know what the other seeker is testing.

/I can teleport it; it seems to be able to handle it. Not sure with the delicate beings however, but I guess as long as they are inside it the teleportation isn’t going to hurt them./ Skywarp muses out loud.

/But YOU are going to explain this to Thundercracker./ the black and purple seeker adds turning his gaze to Starscream. /He is soon going to wake. I can feel him stir./ he elaborates.

Then standing again, Skywarp gently lifts the plane.

/Where do I need to go?/ he asks, ignoring the yelps from the humans inside the plane.

Coming closer Starscream looks into the cockpit.

“Coordinates of the airport you need to reach?” he gently asks the humans.

Conveying the coordinates the humans provide to Skywarp, he smiles reassuringly at the humans.

“My fellow is going to take you there instantly.” And he can’t stop the laughter from erupting from his vocalizer.

With a pop Skywarp is gone and Starscream is left in a whirl of purple.

Moving to Thundercracker he kneels down and nuzzles the large wings, seeing fissures and cracks littering the blue expanses. Here and there energon trails down the plating from oozing wounds.

A groan draws his optics to Thundercrackers face and he sees life returning in the orange optics while the wings twitch, the sensors registering the damage.

Offlining the optics only to online them again a klik later Thundercracker is finally able to focus on the seeker kneeling beside him.

/Starscream…are you okay?/ he asks, concern filling his voice as his vocalizer spits static when he forces the words out.

/I am fine. Don’t worry about me. It is you who are damaged./ Starscream adds, concern of his own showing.

A weak laughter escapes the dominant.

/This…this is nothing. You need to see a true fight among dominants to see true damage./ the Winglord reassure and explains, the laughter still evident in his voice.

Uncurling Thundercracker groans again as his frame complain and protests the movement.

/I am build to take damage Starscream. You aren’t. You are lighter and more fragile. Yes our wings can take a fall if we shield our frame correctly, but my frame can handle the inevitable damage better than yours. And I am your protector. I am going to shield you from damage whenever I can. Even when you do something foolish./ the blue seeker explains further, flexing his wings to test them.

Trails of energon is traveling down the edges of the wings to linger at the bottom before they drip onto the ground beneath the blue seeker when Thundercracker rises to sitting position and Starscream watches the flow with worry.

A hiss escapes the blue seeker when Starscream gently caresses away some of the fuel trickling down the wings.

/I am sorry Thundercracker. But…I had to do it. I-/ Again Starscream fights to find words that will cause understanding, not that Thundercracker seems to demand any, much to his surprise.

Reaching a servo and cupping the tricolored seekers cheek, Thundercracker stops him from further explanation.

/I understand./ the Winglord utter, and a gently smile graces his lips as he sees confusion in Starscreams optics. /You don’t take death well./ he concludes before continuing /Seekers grow up with acceptance of death, knowing that sometimes challenges demands it, and every seeker, submissive and dominant matures with the knowledge that they one orn might die or suffer great pain as punishment. It is how we are… But you haven’t been hardened during your maturity; you have been shielded by your grounder creator./ the blue seeker explains.

Thundercracker had realized it the instant he had tried to get Starscream to comply to his demand after he had punished him.

The tricolored seeker handles pain badly.

Instead of instilling compliance in the submissive it caused fear. And that wasn’t the purpose. Starscream needed to trust him and not be fearful around him, how else would the submissive seek him out when he needed support or protection?

Nuzzling into the gentle touch to his cheek, Starscream let the words settle in his spark.

Sighing deeply, a burden lifting from his shoulders now that he knows that Thundercracker understands and more importantly accepts his hesitation, he curls into the blue plating demanding more of the reassuring touches while he purrs in content.

Optics widening at the feeling of Starscream pressing into him, Thundercracker looks down at the seeker curling into him with soft optics. Then he relaxes and leans back onto the ground savoring Starscreams closeness and the fact that the seeker for the first time demands anything from him while not showing fear.

Allowing his self-repair the time it needs to correct the internal damage done by the impact, he offlines his optics only to online them moments later when his diagnostics scream warnings at him.

‘Extensive repairs needed on critical structural damage.’ Flashes on his HUD and inwardly he curses.

/…Starscream?/ he asks a few kliks later, reluctant to have the other uncurling, but knowing that he needs the help. He doesn’t know where Skywarp is, but with Starscream not panicking he knows the black and purple seeker is safe… Just elsewhere…

/Hm?/ Starscream lifts his helm and looks down into Thundercrackers optics.

/I need your help with something./ Thundercracker continues. /You might as well learn some more about yourself./ he adds with a pained smile.

Moving away from the blue frame, Starscream allows Thundercracker to move, and he watches as the blue seeker crawls from the crater and drops his frame heavily on the even ground, laying on the side.

Gasping Starscream looks in shock at the large gape that the impact with the ground has caused on the lower back of the dominant. Energon is gushing from the deep wound and wires are sparking violently. Kneeling down he takes a closer look at the wound and almost purges when he sees the spinal structure almost bared completely.

/Primus Thundercracker./ he whispers in shock.

Frowning, the blue seeker turns his helm towards him.

/With Skywarp not here I need you to help me with this. Don’t fret, it is nothing./ Thundercracker tells him.

/How?/ he asks incredulous, remembering the times he has watched Ratchet doing repairs. This definitely ranges among the more critical, the loss of energon alone alarming. Had he known about the damage he would have ignored the plane and the humans, but Thundercracker had seemed fine…

/I need you to seal it with nanites. They are going to heal it. It is a part of our self-repair, one that isn’t automatic but needs to be applied when needed./ Thundercracker explains, ignoring the panic in Starscreams optics. Really he had told the seeker this was nothing.

Gulping, still fighting with the urge to purge, Starscream turns his optics away from the sight.

/Nanites?/ he asks, his tone shaking.

Panicking when Thundercracker begins to shake violently, the energon flowing more rapidly from the wound, his processor freeze for several kliks, the shock simply too great for his mind to handle. Everything in the seeker screams at him to get the other seeker to Ratchet.

Then the blue seeker stills and Thundercracker reaches a servo covered in a strange substance towards him.

/You have to dig deep and apply it on every surface. Don’t worry about hurting me, this will sooth the pain as well as heal the wound./ he tells the shaking tricolored seeker, optics serious but still showing slight pain.

Reaching and touching the substance the tricolored seeker feels how his claw tips begin to tingle with sensations. Soaking the servo completely in the nanite rich substance Starscream kneels closer to the wound and tries valiantly to suppress the urge to look away as his claws dig into the bleeding wound.

At a vicious growl from Thundercracker he stills completely, afraid he has done something wrong.

/Keep going./ the blue seeker hisses clearly in pain, impatiently urging him on.

Digging into the wound again his whole frame trembles at the feeling of the wound closing in around his servo.

He has to think of it clinically, like any wound he has seen Ratchet treat and not think of the seeker he actually is digging his sharp claws into.

It is just a wound, something completely impersonal, just a wound.

When the base of his servo vanishes into the wound completely a pop announces Skywarps return. Turning his helm and looking at the black and purple seeker he almost cries out in relief. Jerking his servo out of Thundercracker he sags as Skywarp moves towards them.

/Couldn’t wait?!/ Skywarp scolds the blue seeker.

Thundercracker turns his helm and shoots the black and purple seeker a glare. At the heat in the optics Starscream feels how his wings lower on his back, even if they aren’t turned against him he can feel the anger coming from Thundercracker almost like water dripping down his frame and the sensation is extremely unpleasant. But Skywarp just flickers a wing in annoyance before he kneels by Thundercracker and digs his claws into the wound completely ignoring the heat in the glare.

Withdrawing one servo from the wound he soaks it in the nanites Thundercracker offers and digs into the wound again, his claws working efficiently as they opens the wound further to allow for the nanites to reach the deepest parts of the wound. All while Skywarp works, hisses and groans as well as a few vicious growls escapes the blue seeker, but otherwise Thundercracker is completely still as the black and purple seeker works.

With a satisfied hum Skywarp withdraws both his servos from the wound, and soaks them in the last of the substance on Thundercrackers servo, applying it generously into and around the edges of the wound.

Licking the excess amount of nanites on his servos and the energon staining them, he glances at Starscream.

/He will be healed in a few cycles./ the black and purple seeker adds to the concern Starscream still shows.

With clean servos he turns to the blue seeker again.

/On your front Thundercracker!/ he orders, his tone one almost mirroring Thundercrackers when the Winglord demands, one demanding no argument.

Scowling at the black and purple seeker, Thundercracker grunts before he turns to lie on his front completely.

/They don’t like it./ Skywarp adds offhandedly to Starscream. /Makes them vulnerable./ he elaborates. /And vulnerable dominants tend to die./ he explains further.

A growl leaves Thundercracker at his comments, and Starscream stares from the one to the other with wide optics.

/Pff! don’t be so fearful of him. He is one big sap. Have to see him back home with all our creations clinging to him; you’ll soon lose your fearful respect for him./ Skywarp snorts, seeing Starscreams confusion.

/Speaking of creations. We need to return to the others soon./ the black and purple seeker adds in a serious tone.

/Not before he is trine./ Thundercracker demands, turning to rise from the ground.

With a snarl Skywarp forces the dominant down again, his whole weight lingering on Thundercrackers wings to keep him down.

/None of that!/ the black and purple seeker hisses in anger. /You are not fit, neither of you are./ he growls, optics going to Starscream.

/Do you want to return to the others with us?/ Skywarp asks in a gentler tone.

/I-I think I better return to creator./ he admits uncertain. He really wants to have some time on his own to process all that has happened.

Knowing yellow optics meets Starscreams and Skywarp smiles reassuringly.

/Take your time./ the black and purple seeker tells him, to which Thundercracker growls, clearly not agreeing.

Casually sitting down on the back of the dominant right between the wings and avoiding the still gaping wound, Skywarp leisurely relaxes, ignoring the snarls coming from the blue seeker.

Snarling back at the dominant he orders the blue seeker to enter recharge already to increase the healing.

Then he turns to Starscream and the snarl vanishes completely.

/So, what do you think?/ he asks curiously.

/About?/ the tricolored seeker ask, unsure what the other means.

/Everything!/ Skywarp exclaims, a wide smile on his lips. /Me, Thunder, YOU! I can’t wait to have you as ours./ he continues, optics sparkling with joy. /However I didn’t expect you to cave in like that with Thundercracker disciplining you and all./ the black and purple seeker cants his helm, optics gone serious. 

He had expected that Starscream would withdraw and distance himself after the punishment, not for the seeker to willingly be claimed by the dominant. Either Thundercracker had gone beyond himself to reassure or Starscream really truly desperately wanted to belong.

The talk continues between the two submissives, mostly with Skywarp asking and Starscream answering, but now and then Starscream decides to satisfy his curiosity. Especially since a lot has happened the last orn, some of which he still don’t understand.

As time pass Thundercracker succumbs to recharge and both submissives share amused looks at the sound of the recharging dominant.

/Finally!/ the black and purple seeker mutters in exasperation, but there is care in the yellow optics as the seeker gently caresses the blue plating.

With the blue seeker gone into recharge, Skywarp lifts from the frame and sits down beside Thundercracker and leans into the blue plating, Starscream mirroring him on the other side of Thundercracker.

Watching as the black and purple seeker inspects the wound; Starscream is surprised to see that the edges of the wound have begun to close over the gape the ground has torn into the blue seeker.

Seeing his surprise, Skywarp stops his inspection.

/The first part we heal is the outer plating. If Thundercracker don’t have enough material in his frame to rebuild the damaged areas, it would not be able to heal like you see here. We can practically regrow everything as long as the resources are there to do so. And we do it fast. We have to or we die./ he explains.

/Back home Thundercracker would never have gone into recharge like this./ the black and purple seeker adds offhandedly. /It is simply too dangerous for him to not be alert with a wound like this weakening him. Sure we have rules and traditions, but we do have deranged seekers among our people, and it does happen that Winglords die outside the Winglord challenges. Right now we are secluded from the rest of our people, and the seekers with us are all faithful even if they are among the most powerful the Swiftstrike clan can show. There is no threat to us or him, which is why he allows us to watch over him./ Skywarp continues in a harder tone, yellow optics digging into Starscreams.

/You need to understand that your actions affects all of us now, we are almost trine. Your recklessness forced Thundercracker to react to save you and get hurt while he did so. I am relieved that he intercepted you in your fall; you would have died from the impact. But even if Thundercracker denies it, and I know he does, stubborn as always, he is gravely wounded. The damage is reparable but every wound is a danger to a dominant. If you can avoid it, never put him in a situation where he sacrifices himself for you. With him out you have no protection. And trust me, when we return home you will need it. You don’t understand our customs so I am sure you are going to cause disputes, even when you don’t intend. It is going to be a learning curve for you, and Thundercracker is going to defuse or take the pain aimed for you onto his own plating./ the black and purple seeker warns him, yellow optics deadly serious.

Returning to the wound, Skywarp digs claws into the closing wound, gauging how the depth healing in it progress and a moment later he withdraws it with a hum.

/He will be healed in a cycle from now./ he adds, smiling reassuringly and the optics softening.

With those words, Skywarp rests his helm on the thrumming blue plating and looks at the other submissive. Resting his own helm on the blue plating, with his forehead touching Skywarps they both settle down and relaxes while they listen to the strong engine and systems working in the blue frame. It is a soothing sound and right there with the both of them Starscream truly feels like he has come home.

They part one and a half cycle later when Skywarp wakes Thundercracker from recharge. The wound is completely closed and it is safe for the blue seeker to take flight and transform. Starscream flies towards the space ship and his surely waiting creator while the two other seekers are going back to the camp and their waiting seekerling.

Skywarp is fretting that they have let it in Crossfires care this long, fearing how the dominant has ruined his youngest while Thundercracker grumble about still not having Starscream complete their trine.

Seeing Mount St. Helens in the distance Starscream smiles and speeds up. Diving into the crack he transforms before he lands on the bottom of the crack in front of the entrance to the space ship. His smile widens when he is greeted by Ratchet and the twins.

Ratchet glares at him, optics heated, but nothing close to what Thundercracker can muster and Starscream flickers his wings to defuse the anger.

Not giving up on his rage, Ratchet pounces on him as they walk into the space ship.

“Was it really necessary for him to ruin my medbay?!” the CMO growls. They were still working on repairing the damage Thundercracker had done when he had flung the berth into one of the walls. That the seeker even had managed to do so was shocking, the berths were extremely heavy and bolted to the floor with several heavy duty bolts. Not even the Prime could lift one from the floor, less rip it from its socket. They had needed the power of four mechs to even return it to the socket it had been removed from.

But the berth was the less damage. What really had him angry was the ruined medical tools that had been in the cabinets it had shattered at the impact.

Delicate fine-tuned tools had been spread all over the floor, some ruined completely others luckily salvable, but it would take time to repair them all.

Starscream just laughs and the twins follow him much to Ratchets ire.

“He is a seeker, what did you expect Ratchet?” he asks in amusement.

Then he sober as he remember why Thundercracker did it, and his demeanor turns pained for a klik before he hides the sorrow he shares with the pair.

“We all handle weakness differently.” He silently murmurs. And the Winglord can’t handle it at all. He is their leader, the one to secure the protection of all seekers and he failed the one most important to him. Starscream suddenly understands Thundercrackers sternness and demanding demeanor. The discipline makes sense and he understands the words told him by both Thundercracker and Skywarp.

Before he can follow Ratchet inside the medbay he is stopped by Optimus coming down the corridor towards them.

“Can I have breem Starscream?” the Prime asks.

Nodding, Starscream leaves Ratchet and the twins to follow Optimus to the command center.

As he enters, Teletran is showing news feeds from the humans and before the Prime says anything Starscream watches as Skywarp appears at the airport with the ambulance plane safely in servo.

He can’t stop the smile on his lips at the sight.

“I guess this has something to do with you?” Optimus asks, seeing the smile.

“Did she survive?” the seeker asks instead of answering.

“She did. She even arrived before they were scheduled to land in the airport.” The Prime answers, watching the tricolored seeker closely.

With a fluttering spark Starscream can’t stop his wings from flickering with happiness at the news.

“Still the humans are confused and don’t know how to react. The black and purple seeker is to them known as a dangerous enemy. Yet it just delivered the plane and flew away calmly.” Optimus explains frowning.

‘Because Skywarp knew how wounded Thundercracker was.’ Starscream adds in his mind.

Again he felt guilt. This time for making Skywarp help the humans instead of tending to his seriously hurt mate.

With a sigh he forces the guilt away. Both Thundercracker and the human child survived and that was truly what mattered.

“Is this all you wanted?” the seeker asks curiously.

“No. There is something else.” Optimus says, hesitating slightly.

Frowning at the hesitation visible in the Primes stance, Starscream waits for what the mech has to say.

“We had a talk with Ratchet earlier when you were alone. And we have decided it is time you know. For your own safety.” The Prime tells him in a serious voice.

“The blue seeker, Thundercracker as Ratchet told me you said his name is, is compromised just like the black and purple seeker, but more severely. Starscream, Megatron is able to control him directly.” Gauging the seeker before him he stops in his explanation to let the information settle.

Starscream just stares at the autobot leader, silence reigning in the command center, every autobot there silently waiting for the seeker’s reaction. Everyone knows how important this talk between their leader and the tricolored seeker is, everyone hope for a chance to free the seekers, and everyone knows that their only chance lies on Starscreams shoulders.

When it comes they see the wings rise high on his back as yellow optics burns into calm blue.

Starscream feels how his sparkchamber grows cold, like ice is freezing it solid.

‘Megatron controls Thundercracker?’ his mind can’t handle the information, won’t accept it. Because that means that no one is safe. Not as long as the decepticon leader controls the Winglord and with him all the seekers.

“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” he demands to know, his voice taking on a screechy note.

First it was Skywarp and now Thundercracker too.

Sure Ratchet had told him Thundercracker was compromised too, but never had he thought it this serious.

“Scratch that.” He adds before the Prime answers. “How? How does he control him? Thundercracker isn’t one for loving grounders. What hold does Megatron have on him?!” He demands to know, his wings trembling with feelings.

With that Optimus turns to Teletran and brings up everything they have on the device as well as the scan Ratchet accidentally made on the Winglord.

Taking a step back, Starscream shakes as he realizes what Megatron has done.

“No. No. No.” he utters in shock.

“Ratchet has the expertise to remove it, he just need the chance to do so.” Optimus adds calmly.

Optics returning to the autobot leader, Starscreams widens.

“You want Thundercracker to let Ratchet SEDATE him and open his helm?!” he asks incredulous.

“Yes.” The Prime answers in a serious tone.

“Primus.” The seeker breaths while his processor already works with all the ways Thundercracker might react to the proposal and how he is going to explain the existence of the device implanted into the Winglord.

But in his spark he knows that the chance that Thundercracker is going to agree is extremely small. Seekers simply don’t trust grounders that much. Even if it is Ratchet who is going to perform the surgery and that Starscream and Skywarp will be around he calculates the chance for the blue seeker to accept the surgery to be below 1%.

Nevertheless he has to try and Thundercracker needs to know.

“I will talk to him.” He answers the Prime, but his optics shows his doubt.

“It is all I ask of you Starscream. You have given us this chance, for that we’re all grateful. Without the seekers aiding him Megatron will be weakened greatly.” The Prime answers.

‘And Thundercracker is going to tear out his spark.’ The tricolored seeker adds in his mind. One death he won’t suffer from seeing.

Meanwhile the very mech that is the topic of the conversation between the autobot leader and Starscream prowls in anger in the command center of the decepticon base.

Soundwave had been by earlier in the orn with his newest report from Laserbeak.

The two leading seekers had vanished into the thin air while Megatron and his team had traveled back to base after dealing with that abomination of a seeker. With Laserbeak tracking the autobot seeker, no one had kept optics on the group of seekers.

When Laserbeak had returned to monitor them, the blue and black and purple seekers were gone.

Now they had reappeared and from the enemy base nonetheless!

And they had that abomination with them.

What a pity it hadn’t died when it should. Shockwave had never failed in his experiments before.

IT SHOULD HAVE DIED!

He had then watched the footage Laserbeak had provided and had been disgusted by the display of the seekers. Only when they encountered the humans did he feel some satisfaction in seeing the fight, only for his mood to dwindle drastically at the sight of HIS blue seeker intercepting and crashing with the abominable seeker and a human plane.

With a snarl he had fired his fusion cannon at the screen imagining that it was the damned abomination he obliterated.

He should have killed it himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone seeing how Starscream slowly begins to withdraw from the autbots?:)


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally i managed to crack this chapter. And guess what! It isnt the last as i had expected. I have decided to split what i thought would be the last chapter, since it seems to become awfully long, and to not keep you waiting any further, here you are. BUT by doing so you have to deal with a really really evil cliffy. Hopefully i can keep writing and next will be out soon.

Skywarp can feel Thundercrackers longing for Starscream as the three seekers part to go their own ways. As Starscream disappear in the distance Thundercrackers optics is trained on the leaving seeker until the sleek frame of Starscreams altmode completely vanishes in the distance. Only then does the blue seeker return his attention to his black and purple mate. But even then Skywarp senses deep feelings warring in Thundercracker. Among them a burning need that trickles with arousal.

Sending a reassuring pulse into their bond, he shows his understanding.

/Next time we see him./ Skywarp voices, his own determination to have the tricolored seeker evident in the words.

/Next time./ Thundercracker confirms absentmindedly.

With a smile Skywarp walks up close to the blue seeker, his claws gently caressing the blue wings, soothing, comforting.

/Does anything hurt?/ the black and purple seeker asks as he teases the sensitive plating.

/No./ the blue seeker answers, his optics still distant with the blue seeker lost in his own thoughts.

Then the sensation to his wings registers as the charge in his frame makes itself known and he shakes his helm free of thoughts before he turns it and looks into Skywarps optics.

/I thought you needed to return to the camp?/ Thundercracker gently teases with a smile when he recognizes the sparkling in the yellow optics.

Keeping the optic contact Skywarp lets his glossa swipe here and there on the blue plating that is heating under his caresses. With his focus on Thundercrackers face he smiles when the blue seeker offlines his optics and clearly stifles groans threatening to escape his vocalizer.

/I think our little one can wait until I have dealt with you./ the black and purple seeker purrs, about to bite down gently on the tip of Thundercrackers left wing.

/Is that so?/ Thundercracker muses before he onlines his optics again.

Skywarp only manages to let his dentas grace Thundercrackers left wing before the blue seeker swipes around and seizes hold on him. Before he knows it he is flat on the ground on his back with the dominant on top of him, Thundercrackers optics burning with desire locking with his own showing his own lust.

/Yes./ Skywarp stutters before he regains control of his gyros at the sudden move.

A rumble travels Thundercrackers whole frame and enters Skywarps, rattling the black and purple frame as well as grinding the two frames together in minute movements. Moaning at the feeling Skywarp pushes up against the sweet friction wanting more of the pleasurable sensations to fill his frame. An especially needy moan leaves him when Thundercracker begins to lick and tease at his neck cables, the newly freed areas of the cables extremely sensitive to any touch.

Just the feeling of a fang ghosting the hypersensitive areas of his neck is enough for him to lose any control and his valve cover releases.

At the sound of the cover releasing Thundercracker moves his glossa from the neck to the jaw and lastly to the lips. Kissing Skywarp rather fiercely he grinds their frames together until the sensations in his own frame causes his spike cover to release and his spike to extend and erect.

Allowing all his frustration from the passing orn to enter his frame he releases the pent up tension as he thrusts into Skywarp with force. Sheathed inside the valve rippling so welcoming around his spike the tension slowly bleeds from his frame and when he withdraws from the pleasurable feeling around his spike his next thrusts is done with less force.

Holding Skywarp in a lip lock while he takes him, Thundercracker swallows all the moans escaping the submissive, enjoying the need so visible showed by his mate. As their mating carry on the kisses become more desperate and feverish and Thundercracker can´t hold back his own groans of pleasure when the valve begins to ripple around his spike in pre overload motions.

Then Skywarps grip on him grows almost painful with the claws digging into blue armour and the black and purple seekers legs folds around Thundercrackers waist. Keeping the spike buried deeply inside the valve just as he enters overload, Skywarp clings desperately to the blue frame of his mate as he is washed away in the charges coursing his frame, dragging Thundercracker over the edge with him.

Coming out of his overload Thundercracker looks down at Skywarp. Smiling at the sated look in the yellow optics he gently leans down and kisses his mate again. Beneath him Skywarp squirms at the feeling of the spike pressing further into him. With the movement of the seeker beneath him, Thundercracker slowly withdraws from the valve and his spike retracts behind its cover once again. Lying down on his side beside the black and purple seeker, he drags his mate into a protective embrace.

Snuggling into the offered embrace Skywarp curls into the still warm plating of the dominant, content in sensing the strong frame humming with power before he allows himself to drift off for a moment.

Half a cycle pass before he enters consciousness again. At that time Thundercracker is still holding him close, but it isn’t the gentle embrace he entered unconsciousness in. This one is painful, and it is first when he onlines his optics he understands.

They are no longer lying on the ground in a relaxed position.

Thundercracker is standing and mostly keeping Skywarp upright with him.

Sensing Skywarp coming online, the blue seeker sags minutely before voicing out orders.

/Skywarp. You need to get away from here. Return to camp, I will deal with this./ Thundercracker orders, and it is first when the black and purple seeker hears the anger in the voice he realizes that their bond is filled with aggressive emotions. Turning his helm he instantly regrets it, coming face to face with a squad of grounders.

Trembling he turns his helm to look up at Thundercracker. He can see the blue wings held high on the blue seekers back and Thundercracker is snarling at the group of grounders. He is reluctant to comply, knowing that Thundercracker with his wound still isn’t at his peak. The wound might be closed, but it still lingers beneath the outer plating that has closed over it.

Sensing the reluctance Thundercracker narrows his optics.

/Now!/ he orders with a growl, releasing the black and purple seeker from his hold, pushing Skywarp behind him out of sight of the grounders.

Still hesitant Skywarp looks one more time up at the blue seekers face before nodding and taking off into the air.

Skywarps take off causes commotion in the group of grounders and voices is shouting but nothing more happens.

Taking one more look down at his mate, Skywarp can see the grounders circling in on the Winglord.

When he turns his focus on returning to the camp and the rest of their group he isn’t aware of one grounder hidden away from the others, focusing solely on the leaving black and purple seeker. He just hears the shot and the minute pain a moment later before darkness rapidly claims him.

He only manages a fleeing thought of ´NO!´ before he succumbs to the sedation and begins his fall from the sky.

At the autobot base more than a month passes for Starscream without anything coming from either Thundercracker or Skywarp. He had honestly thought they would have showed up when he kept staying away, but they hadn’t, not even Thundercracker who clearly had been displeased at their parting.

That meant that he had had all the time he needed to sort out his processor and think about his future.

A future that he is about to realize.

Walking into the command center of the autobot base, Starscream looks at the backs of Ratchet and Optimus as the two autobots are occupied in discussion in front of Teletran’s main screen.

Moving towards them and gently placing a servo on Ratchets shoulder he silences whatever the medic is about to say.

“It is time.” He voices gently, tightening the servo on Ratchets shoulder slightly before he lets go of it.

“Are you sure?” the CMO asks, his own servos taking hold of Starscreams and holding the seekers in a light grip.

Starscream just nods in a silent affirmation.

He is more than ready at this moment.

At this moment his spark is plaguing him every wake cycle for him to return to Thundercracker and Skywarp. The time spent away from the two seekers and the rest of his kin has done him well, but he can feel how he needs to return to them again, the need is slowly turning into pain in his spark. So far it is just an irritating feeling but he is sure that if he doesn’t meet up with them soon it will turn into outright pain.

The time spent back at the autobot base had been used on some deep soul-searching for the tricolored seeker, and he had spent the first two weeks completely isolated from anyone and anything at the top of the volcano. Only Ratchet had a few times dared the dangerous unstable trip up the mountain to check on him and deliver his fuel.

There on the top of the mountain high above the ground, practically in the sky without being airborne, he had taken his time to think.

There in his loneliness he had had the peace in frame and mind to try and sort out the mess that had become his processor. He had spent cycles upon cycles replaying every interaction he had had with the seekers, seeking to understand.

As the time went by the questions lingering in his mind slowly faded into nothing as realization and understanding began to dawn on him.

Alone among the clouds during those two weeks he had come to accept his fate and his future. 

When he finally no longer had any questions unanswered or doubts lingering in his Meta and the feeling of calm slowly settled he realized that he felt secure with the thought of spending the rest of his life, if not eternity, together with the two other seekers his spark longed for.

When acceptance finally settled inside him, he had taken one last flight into the air before he had rejoined the autobots down below.

Most of his thoughts had been centered on Thundercracker during the two weeks in isolation.

Skywarp was everything he could imagine he ever would want in a mate.

But Thundercracker made it complicated. At least inside his processor.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want Thundercracker; he felt a spark deep longing for finally to belong completely to the Winglord.

What had his mind in a twist was the fact that Thundercracker was indeed his leader.

The fact that one of his future mates was the leader of his people was something that made the rather young seeker who had grown up alone, raised away from his kin unsure. He still has a lot to learn about himself and the people he belongs to in spark and frame while fighting with the rules he has been taught during his maturity among the ground bound. Rules that when he enters the society of his kin no longer will matter. He will have to integrate to new social rules in a society that is harsher than the one he has grown up in. How do you erase vorns upon vorns of indoctrinating into one society when you join another?

Skywarp was right.

Starscream knows with his new understanding that he will cause disputes even without intending to when they return to Cybertron. So far the small group of seekers on Earth has been a good way for him to acclimate slowly. He hadn’t interacted much with any of them, but it at least left Thundercracker and Skywarp the time to slowly begin his integration into seeker society. That was what they had been doing from the very first moment he had set his thrusters in the camp. The realization had come to him during the two weeks spent alone. The seemingly small unimportant gestures or sentences done or said during his time spent with them suddenly made sense when he looked back at the situations.

That the last lesson had been so painful and frightening, was something that he could have been without, but even that he now began to understand. The punishment was code deep completely normal and he had realized looking back, that the blue seeker clearly had gone easy on him, the dominants own words obviously confirming it as well. The Winglord hadn’t truly wanted to punish him, to hurt him, but had had to because he had disobeyed.

Something else that had had his mind in a twist was that whole orn after he woke from his near death.

There were so much that had happened during that one orn which he still doubted he understood completely. 

Again it had Thundercracker in the center, but this time it wasn’t the blue seeker himself, but the codes running deeply in any seeker that he tried to understand. The code he had felt awakening inside himself as a response to Thundercrackers. He can´t stop fearing that there is so much more coding that yet have to activate that he won´t know how to react to when it does. So far only the trine coding as well as the submissive coding that surfaced when Thundercrackers coding had demanded his submission had showed. How much more had yet to activate?

That whole orn of mishaps simply raised so many new questions and uncertainties inside him.

Especially when Thundercracker one moment was ripping him into pieces for the next having the both of them acting like long time lovers. It was all so confusing.

However, the more he thought about it the more a sense of understanding settled over him. Not something that his mind could understand, no, the feeling of understanding came from within his spark and it caused calm to settle over him whenever he managed to think himself into a panic attack.

Now he clearly understood Thundercrackers reason for punishing him. He had ignored the most important rule in his new society and coding didn’t care if he hadn’t known from the start. He had not just disobeyed his dominant by coming to Ratchets aid; he had challenged and disobeyed his Winglord. And as the Winglord, Thundercracker couldn’t ignore that disobedience. He needed a trine that supported him completely. The blue seeker might have gone easy on him as far as his coding allowed, knowing that Starscreams breaking of the rule simply was because the tricolored seeker didn’t know. But the punishment was natural, uncommon because it was a submissive that had trespassed on dominant/dominant rules, but still natural and unavoidable.

With the new knowledge, the frightening experience had become less so and he was able to put the needed trust into the blue seeker again.

Dragging Starscream out of his musings, Optimus gently touches his shoulder to get his attention. Ratchet still holds his servos in a light grip, the thumbs gently caressing his plating. It is a calming sensation, but Starscream knows the medic is doing it to calm his own nervousness more than the seekers.

Looking up into the blue optics of the autobot leader he can see the well-known concern and care shining in them. The Prime is reluctant to let him go, but they all know he needs to. He is the only one who can talk to Thundercracker and try to explain the need for Ratchets help.

After Starscreams return to the space ship, Ratchet had spent weeks teaching him everything the medic knows about the mind controller and the needed information regarding the possibility of removing it.

The time creator and creation had spent together had been pleasurable and not just science and medical. Ratchet had taken the time one evening to address Starscream with worries of his own. The medic couldn’t forget the mishap that he had caused with Thundercracker and the following consequences. It turned out to Starscreams surprise that the CMO was greatly worried that his actions had ruined every chance they might have had with the seekers.

Starscream had been pleased to ease Ratchets worry.

Grounders might keep grudges.

But seekers don’t.

That much he understands from his interaction with Thundercracker. It is the whole reason with the punishment he had been through. When it was done everything went back to normal between the two parts.

Whatever disputes that might arise among the seekers were solved instantly and directly and then they simply shrugged the experiences off and carried on like nothing had happened.

With Ratchet teaching him what he needs to know to hopefully make Thundercracker understand that he has been controlled by a grounder all this time and to explain Ratchets offer to remove it, Starscream no longer has anything to stall his return to his future trinemates.

But the return to his kin will not be easy for the tricolored seeker.

After all he needs to find them first.

During the first month spent at the autobot base the decepticons had been suspiciously inactive, not targeting autobots or humans in any way. In fact no one had been able to locate any movements outside their base at all.

When they finally made a move it came as a surprise to the autobots.

Not that the attack itself came as any surprise, they had known it was just a matter of time before Megatron decided to act. No, what surprised them was the lack of the seekers in the air and the heavy reinforcements among the ground troops.

It was clear that the silence from the decepticons had been due to Megatron gathering the reinforcements from Cybertron to join him on Earth.

The missing seekers worried the autobots while the humans were more than happy to only have to deal with the ground bound transformers and not risk their forces in the air. The unease at the missing seekers grew and grew with every encounter against the decepticons where the flying transformers didn’t show up and it affected every autobot to see the hopeful look on the tricolored seeker every time they returned from a skirmish. The drooping wings when they shook their helms to the unvoiced hope in the seekers yellow optics caused them to wish for the seekers to turn up next time.

But no jet engines belonging to a tetrajet were ever heard.

Every time Starscreams hope were crushed at the autobots return from a battle yet again missing the seekers, his worry for his kin grew and a sinking feeling formed inside his spark. It was troubling to him that Megatron didn’t use his strongest card in the battles anymore and that no one seemed to be able to locate the seekers. They had tried to scout out the seekers´ usual camp, but when they had done so it had been clear to them that the forest had been abandoned for weeks. There were no signs indicating the seekers staying there anymore. They had just vanished into the thin air.

But the tricolored seeker isn’t going to give up. He is more than ready to join with Thundercracker and Skywarp in a trinebond and he is sure he will find them when he begins his search.

Still the feeling of something awfully wrong lingers in his spark and he hope that they´re all okay.

Turning his helm to look into Ratchets optics when the medic tugs gently on his arms he can see a slight worry mirroring Optimus´ concern for him.

“Before you leave I want to give you something.” Ratchet explains as he drags the seeker with him out of the command center and towards the medbay.

Entering the medbay, Ratchet gestures for Starscream to sit on one of the berths as the CMO walks into his office.

When Ratchet returns Starscream can´t stop the curious look when he sees a small container in the medic’s servo.

Opening the container the medic reveals two small syringes already loaded.

“For your protection.” Ratchet explains in a grave serious tone.

Taking out one of the syringes Starscream looks at it before Ratchet gently takes it out of his servo.

“Careful with that one.” The medic warns.

Starscream just manages to see the almost black liquid loaded into the syringe he had taken before Ratchet places it into the container again.

Puzzled he gives the medic an inquiring look.

“As you see there are two syringes.” Ratchet explains before he takes out the other and shows the seeker the clear liquid inside it.

“This one is a plain sedative used against your kin during the war on Cybertron. The other-“Placing the syringe in the container again and taking out the one holding the black liquid he holds it up to their optics. “is also a sedative. But this one holds something else too. Inspired by the Trojan Megatron used on you I have created this one. Only use it when you have no other option since this one house a deadly Trojan aiming to crash the system it enters the instant it is injected into a frame. It will kill any cybertronian in less than a breem.” Placing the syringe inside the container again, he carefully closes it and looks up at Starscream, his optics filled with seriousness.

“I want to add it to your frame in a compartment added to your wrist. That way you will always be able to reach it and it won’t interfere with your transformation.” The CMO explains further.

“Ratchet…I-I can´t.” Starscream stutters in shock at the explanation of the last syringe. He knows why the medic is doing this.

Ratchet don’t like that Starscream is going to put himself out there among the seekers and possibly the decepticons after the incident more than a month ago, where Megatron had tried to enslave the tricolored seeker and then deliberately left the Trojan inside the seeker to kill Starscream when it turned out the tricolored seeker seemed different than his kin. That the seeker is alive is something that all the autobots knows the decepticon leader will try to change after his first attempt on the seekers life. And by letting Starscream go and search for his kin alone they are putting him out on the frontline and in reach of Megatrons attacks.

Starscream does understand Ratchets reasons to want to protect him, he knows that he is going to put himself in danger while away on his own with no one to back him up, but he needs to find Thundercracker and Skywarp, and with no life sign from them for more than a month all he can do is try and find them himself.

“Starscream. Please let me do this. I-I need to be sure you are going to be safe. This-This is all I can do at the distance there is going to be between us. And I fear what is going to happen when you finally find your kin. It has Megatron written all over it. Please let me do this for you.” Ratchet argues in response to the seekers clear reluctance. 

Looking down at the container still held openly in Ratchets servo Starscream grimaces.

Then he looks up and into Ratchets pleading optics and after a breem of silent starring into each other’s optics he holds out his left arm to the medic in defeat.

During Ratchets teachings, the medic had explained how the mind controller worked and affected Thundercracker and Ratchet had in stern tones ordered him to flee if the blue seekers optics ever turned red. Starscream can’t predict what is going to happen when he finds the seekers, and if his agreeing to the compartment is going to lessen Ratchets fears he will allow his creator to add it to his frame, but he somehow knows that he will never be able to use it, at least not the black one. He knows that the mere sight of Thundercracker greyed out is going to kill him, just the thought of it makes his spark clench painfully in its chamber. No he will never be able to kill his future trinemate no matter what happens.

A cycle later he is in the command center again, this time with the compartment stealthily placed just above his left wrist. A minute touch to a button on its front is enough to allow the seeker easy access to the two syringes if the need ever arise.

Trying to ignore the addition to his frame he says his goodbyes to friends and family before he leaves the space ship to begin the search for his missing kin.

Deciding to scout out the abandoned camp for any clues he sets his course towards the well-known forest.

Transforming into altmode he takes to the sky and allows the wind to play with his frame as he begins what he expects to be a long journey to discover what has happened to Earths resident seekers.

Soon he has the forest in vision and he adds more power to his engine. So far there is no sign of present seekers. No one is greeting him in the air as he closes in on the forest and the camp. It all tells him what he already knows. The camp truly is abandoned.

But when he flies into the area above the ground covered by the flourishing forest he senses disturbances from where the camp is located. Countless spark signatures ping on his HUD and he begins to hope beyond hope that his kin has returned.

As he overflies the camp he prepares to land.

And as he clears the clearing the camp is located in his HUD confirms that it truly is spark signatures he detected down below.

But at the visual he instantly aborts the landing, fear gripping his spark, because the spark signatures aren’t of seeker origin, no, down in the clearing every decepticon present or Earth is gathered, prepared to greet him.

When he aborts his landing another presence reveals itself to him.

To mock him Laserbeak choses that moment to reveal herself to him, flying only a few hundred meters away from the seeker in the air. Daring the seeker she flies closer to Starscream and begins to circle him.

His fear turns to horror at the sight of Thundercrackers blue frame among the ground bound decepticons and what little hope he has gained at the sight of the Winglord is crushed when he realizes that there are no other seekers there than the Winglord.

Not even Skywarp.

The fact that the black and purple seeker isn’t together with Thundercracker concerns Starscream deeply, he knows the pair almost never is parted, not even during an order from Megatron. That much he knows from Ratchets explanations from the war on Cybertron.

He is drawn out of his thoughts at the sound of Thundercrackers unmistakable engine igniting and he watches as the blue seeker transforms, takes to the air and gains in altitude until he reaches the height Starscream is hovering at. Then the blue seeker pushes his engine and bursts forward in clear pursuit of the tricolored seeker.

Seeing Thundercracker charging at him Starscream reacts on instinct and tries to keep the distance between them. Deviating from his path he tries to lose the other seeker, but after his first change of flight path Thundercracker begins to fire lasers at him and slowly the tricolored seeker is herded back above the clearing in the forest and the armed forces of the decepticons down below.

Becoming more and more drained as he tries to evade Thundercrackers attacks as well as block the pain when the lasers hit, he is finally herded down to the ground with the Winglord hovering above him like an angel of death.

Landing on the ground, as far away from the grounders as possible he takes a defensive stance as he faces the large force of ground bound transformers.

Moments later Thundercracker lands as well, but amidst the grounders, just beside the unmistakable frame of Megatron himself.

Unnerved Starscream watches the blue seeker transform into root mode and meets the blood red optics of the Winglord.

Looking into the optics he realizes that he and the autobots are too late to do anything for the seekers.

Seeing his future trinemate act like the drone he had feared, every shed of lingering hope evaporates and Starscream succumbs to pure agony in his spark.

Ratchets fears for the tricolored seeker are coming true.

And he won´t be able to flee from this.

Neither will he have Thundercracker or Skywarp to help him this time.

He is completely alone among enemies wanting him dead, and a Winglord manipulated to stand by and watch whatever Megatron has been planning.

With force he breaks the suffocating optics contact with the blue seeker and instead he looks at Megatron with hate-filled optics.

It is then the decepticon leader turns his attention from Thundercracker, after having petted the Winglords blue wings like the seeker is his pet, and looks towards Starscream.

At the smirk that forms on the grey grounder Starscream can´t stop the growl from leaving his vocalizer.

How dare that grounder pet Thundercracker and treat the Winglord like that. No grounder is worthy of petting those blue wings. Megatron even less.

He narrows his optics when Megatron begins to walk to where he still stands defensively, watching all the ground bound, and ready to attack or retreat if they come too close.

It is like the small “battle” he had been forced into last time he was together with Thundercracker and Skywarp has triggered more than just his weapons systems. It is like he himself has become the weapon and that new ways of thinking is surfacing, at least in the face of danger.

Flexing his claws dangerously at his sides Starscream watches the grey frame come closer. When Megatron reaches the threshold that define how close the seeker is going to allow the other, the smirk on Megatrons face grows as he takes deliberate steps closer, ignoring the growled warnings from Starscream.

While Megatron closes in on him, Starscream fights against the urge to draw his wings in taut to his frame to protect himself further from the enemy in front of him. It is an intern fight for the seeker, cower or show dominance over the grounder. Finally the urge wins and as Megatron stops mere ten feet from him, Starscream has withdrawn himself as close as he can, his wings low and pressed against his frame, almost looking like a cornered animal. But cornered the seeker is more dangerous than ever before. Cornered his instincts is going to take over and if Megatron pushes him too far he is going to react.

Almost like he knows how far he can push the tricolored seeker, Megatron hold the distance of the ten feet between them and just studies Starscream for several moments.

Then the decepticon leader speaks to him.

“So we meet again.” Megatron begins to casually small talk, his tone even as if he had never tried to kill the seeker in front of him.

Narrowing his optics further Starscream just stares at the grounder, no sound leaving him at all.

“Not much for talking?” Megatron chuckles at his silence.

“Come on. I know you can understand me. Humor me.” The grounder pushes on, goading.

At that Starscream draws in a large breath before he roars at the grounder, using the power of his vocalizer, the roar ending in a menacing growl.

Clearly annoyed Megatron closes the distance between them and backhands the seeker, forcing Starscreams helm to the side with force.

“None of that! I know you can talk civilized. So talk!” Megatron orders in a roar of his own, not as impressive as the seekers, but still loud and booming.

Snarling Starscream flexes his strained neck cables before returning his gaze to the grounder.

He is so close to attacking the decepticon leader, but minute movement registered by his wings defuses his urge. Thundercracker is primed to intervene and protect Megatron if Starscream attacks.

Instead he just remains silent with no intention to play Megatrons games.

“Very well. If you insist on being silent and uncooperative I will just do the talking then.” The grey grounder growls in anger.

“I see that I might have been too early to dismiss your usefulness, but no matter, I have made my decision. Unfortunately you didn’t die. That is something that we are going to change. I can´t have you messing with my seekers. I already know what you did to the black and purple one. I can´t have you relinquishing any more of the hold I have on them.” Megatron explains angrily, pacing in front of the seeker like he is lecturing Starscream.

“I intended on killing you myself this time. But what fun is there in that?” Megatron stops in his pace and turns his full attention on the tricolored seeker, smirking.

“My troops need some entertainment, which is why I am going to allow you to leave.” The grey grounder´s smirk grows into an evil smile.

“Actually flee, before I activate his order to kill you in front of us all.” The decepticon leader finishes, turning towards Thundercracker with a gesture.

Straightening slightly at the words, Starscream can´t stop his optics from looking at Thundercracker. The blue seeker is just standing there waiting for his next order as the drone he has become in the servos of the decepticons, the red optics devoid of any sentience or feeling. The blue seeker is so far from the Thundercracker Starscream has learned to know and subsequently love. Looking at the drone like seeker Starscream is certain that the blue seeker is going to abide and carry out the order to kill him when it is given.

He can´t stop a shudder from traveling his frame.

He won´t be able to escape this, not with Thundercracker becoming his executioner.

Looking into the empty red optics showing no emotion it is almost like he has already died, but the pain in his spark at the sight of his trinemate, his dominant, his Winglord like this tells him that he is very much alive, for how much longer that will be.

A sound draws his attention from the blue seeker and back to Megatron.

“You have ten kliks.” Is the last thing Megatron says before the grey grounder turns his back on Starscream and walks back to the blue seeker and begins to talk hushed with Soundwave.

Hearing the words Starscreams spark begins to pulse erratically in its chamber. Feeling the urgency his frame reacts on instinct, sensing the danger and before he knows it he has turned on the spot and is indeed fleeing, running on thrusters already burning, ready to ignite fully when he jumps into the air and begins his transformation.

On his HUD he has the countdown running and as the numbers dwindle he begins to lay distance to the clearing and the enemy forces gathered in it, hoping to get as far away from the forest as possible in the short head start he has been given. When the countdown reaches zero he can, even from the distance he has managed, hear Thundercrackers loud roar as the blue seeker is given his order and is set free to carry it out. Following the roar is the booming of the Winglords massive engine igniting.

Not daring to look back, Starscream adds more power to his engine and pushes it to its limit, trying to lose his incoming pursuer. In his altmode, his wings is telling him everything he needs to know about his surroundings; the wind, the altitude, different vectors and the approaching dominant intent on killing him.

A yellow alert on his HUD draws his attention and when he realizes what it is, his energon runs cold. With his current speed he is forcing more fuel to his engine and by doing so his energy is depleting rapidly. He won´t be able to keep up the current speed if he wants to stay airborne.

At the moment he will be able to maintain the current speed for almost half a cycle, but after that he will be running on fumes and fall out of the sky. If he don’t maintain the current speed Thundercracker will be able to catch up to him and then it all will be over, but the Winglord is going to do so anyway with his increased stamina. He just have to wait for Starscream to tire himself out and deplete his energy severely enough. There is no way out of it for the tricolored seeker; his death will be waiting no matter what choice he makes.

Deciding to keep up the speed he silences the alert and returns his attention on his death steadily coming closer as the blue seeker gains in his own speed. But the Winglord will never be able to catch up to him before Starscreams reserves are depleted and so far the tricolored seeker is able to keep up the pace.

When the fatigue finally sets in in Starscream ten breems has passed and he can feel how he needs to force the remaining fuel to his engine to keep up his speed, his reserves dangerously low. Two more breems pass and his speed begins to slow while his flight becomes wobbly as he only runs on the remaining fumes in his system. Another breems passes before he senses Thundercracker coming dangerously closer.

Trying to push his engine just a bit further, hoping to prolong the inevitable he isn’t prepared for the sonic boom released by the blue seeker and barely manages to shield his frame with his wings before he begins an uncontrolled fall towards the ground, this time without anyone to save him from the impact.

With gyros spinning crazily he tumbles towards the ground, gaze one moment into the sky and the hovering blue seeker for the other moment to face down and look at the incoming forces of decepticons who have tried to keep up with their flight to see Thundercracker tear him apart.

Thought the wind blowing at his frame he can hear their cheers as he is falling and he offlines his optics. The wind blows mercilessly against his frame and before the impact he is turned face up allowing his wings to take the brunt of the impact with the ground.

Feeling the shock reverberate through his frame he onlines his optics at the jolts of pain filling him and his HUD blares with countless damage reports.

Fatigued and severely injured his frame is about to enter emergency stasis to preserve his life, not matter what little purpose it has under the current circumstances.

The last thing Starscream sees before the stasis claims him is Thundercracker landing nearby and stalking towards him.

Before he completely enters unconsciousness the last thought he has is that ´this is it´ but he can´t help the weak frown and following hope at the sight of the blood red optics flickering violently, Thundercrackers dominating orange color now and then replacing the red.

Then there is only darkness.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 33 edited... missing whole 3600 words by mistake under first upload... now fixed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Then it is finally time for another update:) Remember that chapter 32,33 and 34 will actually be one chapter. So if you cant quite remember what happened in 32, read it again and carry on to 33:) I will be working on 34 asap:)
> 
> While the theme in 32 was a bit depressing... 33 is worse...

When Starscream slowly regains consciousness he knows something is wrong, very, very wrong. One, he can´t move, two he is very much alive, something that he shouldn’t be.

With a frown the seeker forces his optics to online and instantly regret it. Bright white light is blinding him and it takes several long kliks before his optics adjust to the extreme brightness that surrounds the seeker wherever he is.

When he finally is able to see, he realizes why it is he can´t move. He is restrained to a wall, even with his wings fixated, in a small cell.

Trying to see beyond his own little cell, he turns his helm from side to side and can see the rows of cells stretching on almost unending, barely able to see the walls in both ends of the large room.

Then he turns his attention to the content of the other cells and his energon turns cold before a smoldering fury takes over in his spark.

All around him he sees his missing kin.

Looking forward, studying the cell on the other side of the small corridor his fury almost turns to berserker rage.

There in the little cell lying on the cold floor he recognizes the black and purple frame of Skywarp.

The submissive seeker is unmoving, missing his wings, the prized appendages lying discarded beside his frame.

Then as he studies the black and purple frame he can see small tremors begin to travel the other seeker, the small wing nubs on the seekers back, where the frame has tried to regrow the severed wings, vibrating erratically. A single tear travels Starscreams cheek at the sight of the unfinished growth of the wings as well as the sight of the greyed out wings lying beside the black and purple seeker. The trembles traveling Skywarps frame continue and Starscream realizes that Skywarp is stirring and is slowly regaining consciousness. When Skywarps claws begin to scratch at the floor and his frame begins to move an alarm begins to blare out loudly.

Instantly a door at one of the ends of the room opens and a grounder walks into the room, down the rows of cells aimed for Skywarp. Watching the grounder, Starscream can´t stop his growl when the red and blue mech keys the door to Skywarps cell open and withdraws a syringe from subspace.

Enraged he can only watch as the mech plunges the syringe into Skywarp and empties the content into the weakly struggling seeker. Skywarp has regained so much consciousness that Starscream hears a faint whimper from the black and purple submissive. But unable to fight Skywarp succumbs to the content forced into him and he goes slack and unmoving a klik later.

Starscreams growl turns to a howl of rage when the tricolored seeker realizes what Megatron is doing to his kin.

The captured seekers are constantly kept sedated, imprisoned and unable to fight against their capture. It makes a sick sort of sense to him, since wake seekers are hard to keep imprisoned no matter how energy depleted they are.

Trashing against his restraints he watches as the grounder moves further into the room, into a corner and bends slightly. Frowning he stops his movements and tries to see what has the mechs attention.

Ignoring the tricolored seeker, the grounder lifts a little cage, turning it into the light to watch the thing inside it.

A weak whimper is enough for Starscream to know what is inside the cage.

The seekerling.

Snarling, he renews his effort to try and free himself from the restraints, the thought of the little seekerling alone without Skywarps care driving him close to the killing edge.

Then the grounder turns and Starscream is able to see the seekerling clearly in the cage.

It is slumped to the floor of its prison, barely moving, barely venting.

As he watches the grounder, the red and blue mech murmurs silently to the seekerling as he frees it from the cage before he withdraws another thing from his subspace.

To Starscreams horror the mech reveals another syringe, but when the grounder lifts the syringe to the seekerlings lips some of the horror eases.

They are feeding it.

A short relief fills the tricolored seeker until he hears choking sounds coming from the seekerling and can see how it weakly fights in the hold the grounder has on it, while the fuel is forced down its intakes.

No more than a klik pass before the seekerlings system begins to expel the fuel from its tank.

The lite frame can´t handle the regular energon, the impurities in the fuel which a grown up frame can handle is poison to its barely developed system. That is why the seekerling needs the fuel refined through its carrier and fed to it thought a feeding line.

Loud curses sounds from the grounder as the seekerling purges the fuel forced into it and in disgust the red and blue mech almost throws the seekerling into the cage and dumps it on the floor before he steps out of the cell and moves down the corridor and out of the room.

The weak coughing from the seekerling continues for several breems and Starscream can imagine what the expelled fuel is doing to the seekerlings frame. When the coughing stops he directs his full attention on Skywarps cell, fearing that the seekerling might have died. But weak ragged venting from clearly clogged vents sounds and he relaxes a bit. Still, the seekerling is suffering and slowly dying, it is a surprise it even is alive after all this time.

Spacing out a bit, with nothing else happening for a long time, Starscreams attention is turned inward.

His frame is sore and even hurts at some places while others are completely stiff. His wings is telling him nothing but agony, some of the sensors in them still offline others undergoing repairs.

But when he turns his attention to his HUD wondering how much time has passed since he entered emergency stasis he is shocked.

Four days.

He has been out cold for four days.

With that knowledge and the feeling of his frame still healing grave wounds another thing adds to the feeling of something not being right.

Scrolling through damage reports he frowns at what they are telling him.

Countless lines of new damages are listed and going on almost endlessly, some even reappearing several times.

What has been going on while he has been in stasis?

Then the opening sound of a door draws him out of his thoughts and he looks to either side to see who is entering the room.

Pedsteps are heard sounding heavily on the floor and echoing in the large room coming closer and closer to Starscreams cell.

When the mech comes into view of the seeker Starscream turns his helm away in defiance.

“Finally awake I see.” Megatron murmurs, stopping outside the tricolored seekers cell.

Turning his helm Starscream glares at the grey grounder.

“I am sure you wonder why you are still alive, am I right?” the decepticon leader casually asks, canting his helm while studying the seeker chained to the wall.

Starscream just narrows his optics, his claws flexing uselessly against the wall.

Keying the door to the cell open, Megatron steps inside.

Walking closer to the seeker, the decepticon leader casually lets his digits travel Starscreams restrained frame, ignoring any warning from the seeker.

Trashing in the restraints Starscream tests their strength again, but it is useless. The seeker himself is still drained, his system running dangerously low on energy. There is not chance for him to free himself from his imprisonment and Megatron knows that.

Hissing at the sensory data transmitted to his processor when the grey grounder touches his wings he tries to ignore the pleasure registering.

Offlining his optics and forcing his vocalizer to shut down he hopes that Megatron soon is done gloating and leaves. But the decepticon leader isn’t done with the seeker.

Yelping when Megatron adds a gentle touch to his valve cover his optics shoots open and wide. The touch lingers, the digit slowly caressing, pressing into the plating which is slowly heating in response.

Squirming at the touch and the willing response from his frame Starscream is unable to remain silent any longer.

“Wh-What are you doing! Stop!” he yells, his voice screechy and his tone showing his panic.

“You know, your kin has always intrigued me.” Megatron says, ignoring the protest from the seeker, rubbing his digit harder on the hot plating.

When a moan is forced from the seekers vocalizer, the decepticon leader looks up and smirks at the visible lust in the yellow optics. Ashamed Starscream looks away.

“What a shame we aren’t compatible.” He grey grounder then sighs, removing his digit and laughing at the protesting whine coming from the seeker.

Then the mirth leaves the grey frame completely and the red optics turns deadly serious.

“You keep causing me trouble.” The decepticon leader begins to explain in a stern tone.

“First, you can´t just be a regular seeker. Oh no, you have to have been raised by filthy autobots and integrated into their disgusting society.” Megatron snarls in anger, a servo reaching for a wing tip and twisting it painfully.

Wincing, every ounce of charge Megatron had managed to cause in Starscreams frame is vanishing at the pain. Flooded with painful sensory data he barely manages to hear the next words from the grounder, focused on the torture done to his wing.

“Second,” Megatron hisses, twisting the tip even further forcing a yelp from the seeker “you survived the Trojan. “

“Not only that, you also caused MY seekers to seek out the autobots. To linger in their pathetic base and then lastly you freed HIM!” with a growl Megatron turns and points vividly at Skywarp.

Yanking the wing in his grip violently, Megatron causes a pained scream to leave Starscream when the seeker feels how his wing hinge is almost torn apart. Only the way his wings are restrained to the wall is what keeps Megatron from ripping his wing clean off his back.

“BUT that isn’t even it all!” the decepticon now roars out the words in anger, lost in rage.

“Now even the blue seeker is defying me!!!” the grey grounder bellows, red optics enraged, the grip on the wing becoming crushing.

“He didn’t want to kill you.” The words are almost a whisper, but they are sounding so much more ominous with the change of volume.

“He fought against the mind controller and MY orders.” The words slowly grow in volume again.

“No matter what I order I gave for him to kill you he didn’t want to go for the killing.” The decepticon leader snarls.

“Fought free before he did the killing blow.” Megatron growls angrily.

At Megatrons explanation, several things begin to make sense for the tricolored seeker.

His time spent in stasis.

The long list of damage reports.

Why he is still healing after four days.

It was all because Thundercracker had refused to kill him.

At the realization a weak hope blooms in his spark.

Thundercracker isn’t lost completely then.

“I can´t have the mind controller clearly glitching, and since you are a part of it, you are going to remain alive until whatever is causing this has been fixed. Then I will have him kill you to make sure it isn’t glitching anymore.” With the last words Megatron turns and leaves the cell.

With a last glance at the imprisoned seeker the decepticon leader walks down the corridor and out of the room, leaving Starscream to his own thoughts once again.

While Megatron had taken his time to address the troublesome tricolored seeker, Soundwave is busy working on Thundercracker elsewhere in the decepticon base.

So far every attempt to fix the issue in the blue seeker has turned out fruitlessly; with the blue seeker fighting free of the order and instead of killing the tricolored seeker just wounding it.

Frustrated Megatron has finally ordered the telepath to investigate what it is inside the blue seeker that is conflicting with the orders issued through the mind controller.

Laid out on a berth in the decepticons medical bay the seeker is currently crowded by several mechs, among them the telepath.

Immersed in Thundercrackers chest, connected to both the seekers spark and processor at the same time Soundwave is working on solving the issue with the mind controller.

Tests of the device showed that it isn’t the mind controller itself which is glitching. Last time they had tested the blue seeker Soundwave had been monitoring the seeker closely and had watched as several strings of deep code in the seeker had fought against the active order and lastly allowed the seeker to fight free of it.

Every time the order to kill the tricolored seeker had been issued it had seemed to work correctly the first ten kliks with the blue seeker tearing into the other seeker, causing deep wounds. But as the blue seeker tore the other more and more apart the movements got more forced and lastly it would stop completely, just standing over the bleeding mess of Starscream, optics flickering from red to orange while any further movements clearly were restrained, jerks now and then happening to the clawed digits.

It was clear that it was at this point that the order warred with the strings of coding stirring in the seeker and when the seeker managed to fight free of the compulsion to kill the other seeker, the blue seeker entered a self-inflicted stasis before the mind controller could regain its control.

At the moment Soundwave is trying to single out those strings of code to see if it is possible to deactivate them. He is certain that if he manages to do so, the seeker will be unable to fight against the orders issued and thus unable to disobey.

Running a simulation in the seekers mind, creating a scenario with the blue seeker confronting the tricolored he adds the order to kill Starscream and watches closely as the seekers coding reacts to the very real reality he has created inside the seekers mind.

Instantly the coding rises to fight against the urge awakened in the seeker to carry out the order and he watches as the coding slowly completely drowns out the presence of the order, watches the connection between processor and spark and realizes how deeply the troubling coding runs in the seeker.

He will have to corrupt the seekers spark to prevent the coding from stirring, it isn’t enough to rewrite the coding from the seekers processor.

When he singles out a string to begin the work a whole list of logs are revealed to him and scrolling down through it he is greeted by the running subroutines messing with the mind controller.

Greeting him is repeated lines of counter orders issued from the coding itself to prevent the seeker from acting out the order.

Malfunction registered

Trine coding active

Threat to trine registered

Activating countermeasure

Threat to trine prevented

Those five lines are repeating endlessly from all the orders Megatron issued for the seeker to kill Starscream. Soundwave don’t know the deeper meaning, he has just found the problem and now have something to work with.

He needs to deactivate this trine coding.

After cycles of work on the seeker, Soundwave finally disconnects from the blue frame and closes the spark chamber. It has been some rather troublesome cycles since the seekers coding fiercely fought against his altercations and he had ended up with removing as much of it as he could instead of rewriting it. While doing so it was clear that the effect on the seeker was enormous, in the middle of it all alerts had suddenly begun to blare and they had watched as the seekers spark had begun to flare dangerously.

At some point there had even been a flash of light that had separated from the spark and dispersed into nothing in the air above them, followed by a heat, almost reaching the point where it was able to melt metal, coming from the remaining of the seekers spark. But after that nothing more had happened, just the fact that the seekers spark had almost faded to nothing, barely shining at all.

Now they just had to wait for the seeker to begin to regain consciousness to see how much of an impact the missing coding would have on it. At least the spark had stabilized somewhat during the cycles, its shine increasing slightly, but never reaching the degree it had been before Soundwave had messed with the seekers coding.

Two days passes for the tricolored seeker before Megatron come to visit him again.

When the grey grounder stops in front of his cell he looks up sluggishly, his energy reserves depleting.

While the seekers were fed energon several times during the day the amount forced into their systems were barely enough to keep them functioning. He had watched as mechs now and again came into the room, entered a cell with a drill, a tube and a cube of energon. After the first times he had learned to offline his audios when he saw them enter the room. The sound of the mechs drilling holes in the seekers armor, through the delicate circuitry underneath until they reached the tank was unnerving. When the hole was made the tube were set into it and the tank would be filled with a certain amount of fuel. It was a disgusting procedure to hear and watch for the conscious seeker.

The few times they had been by Starscream to make sure he wasn’t going to die from energy starvation was even more disgusting. He could still feel how the tube was forced down his intakes, scrapping the delicate surface and cause him to wince when it caught at the sides. The urge to bite down on the offending thing had been drowned when the fuel had sloshed into his intake and he could do nothing but try and swallow it before he choked on it.

But even if they fed him, it wasn’t enough to keep up sufficient energy levels and he felt how he became weaker and weaker for every cycle that passed.

Meeting the red optics of the decepticon leader, Starscream frowns at the uncommon unreadable expression on Megatrons face.

“What!” the seeker croaks, voice hoarse and weak.

It is like his voice awakes something in the grounder and he watches as Megatron visibly tries to regain the confidence he usually is seen with, but the decepticon leader fails and his shoulders slumps minutely.

With another attempt, Megatron succeeds in regaining his stature and his face contorts into one of anger.

“I am just here to inform you that Soundwave have sorted out the problems with the mind controller. So you better prepare.” Megatron growls, before he keys the door to the cell open.

Watching the grounder coming closer warily, Starscream narrows his optics when Megatron digs into a subspace.

When the decepticon leader withdraws a cube of energon, the seekers tank rumbles. It is painfully empty, the last feeding being several cycles ago and the amount given was barely more than a mouthful.

The usual smirk grows on Megatron lips at the sound from the seekers tank and he walks closer to Starscream, holding the cube visibly in his servos.

“Someone is hungry.” The grounder states in a teasing tone.

Looking from the cube and into Megatrons optics, Starscream turns his helm in weak defiance at the look he recognizes in those red optics. He isn’t going to cave in to the decepticon that easily.

“Come now. Be a good little pet.” Megatron coaxes, holding the cube to the seekers lips, nudging.

Turning his helm to the other side he almost throws the cube out of Megatrons servo when he does so, forcing the grounder to take a better hold on it.

Narrowing his optics in anger at the seekers antics Megatron takes a painful hold in the seekers jaw and forces Starscream to look at him.

“You need this!” the grounder hisses. “I am sure you are barely able to get airborne with your current energy levels.” The decepticon leader continues.

“What point is there in feeding me, I am dead anyway. Waste of resources.” The seeker spits out through clenched lips.

“What fun is there in watching him kill you if you have no energy to fight back with?” Megatron states clearly frustrated at the seeker.

When arguing with the seeker gets him nowhere, Megatron calls for some of his troops and they force feeds the seeker through the usual tube. This time however Starscream fights the urge to swallow and bites down on the tube, creating holes through which large amounts of the fuel is lost, ending on the floor instead of inside the seekers starving systems.

With a last glare at the unruly seeker Megatron leaves the room in anger, the door slamming shut.

Not a breem later Starscream feels how his frame becomes numb and unresponsive, the sedation in the fuel slowly taking effect.

Drifting into darkness he goes lax in his restraints and isn’t aware of the mechs entering the room moments later, releasing him from his prison and drags him out of the room with the cells to who knows where.

When Starscream regains consciousness again it is like a déjà vu.

Once again he gets the feeling of something wrong, very wrong.

But this time it isn’t the feeling of imprisonment, actually the opposite.

He can feel the wind blow against his wings, which, sensory deprived at being inside for days, causes them to react strongly to the familiar sensation. Fanning wildly on his back they twitch and tremble with the urge to get airborne to feel more of the wind against the sensory net.

Daring to online his optics he is greeted by the sight of an Earth forest covering him and he scents deeply, enjoying the welcome smells of the nature surrounding him. But as he does so he gets the distinct scent of grounders as well. It comes as a shock to him that he now is able to detect that specific smell among all the others.

Rising from the ground he looks around, trying to detect the grounders his olfactory sensor tells him is nearby.

Just as he rises to his thrusters the group of grounders walks into the little clearing he had been laid out in and he is face to face with not only Megatron but Thundercracker too.

Forgetting himself and his situation he can´t stop feeling relief at the sight of the Winglord. Megatrons strange way of acting had had the tricolored seeker worrying for the blue seekers well-being. To see Thundercracker up and moving eases the fears in his spark.

Moving towards the blue seeker, reaching forward and gently caressing one of the blue wings his spark soars at being this close to the dominant again. He is so enthralled by the close presence of Thundercracker that he doesn’t register the warning signs. First when a fierce roar leaves the blue seeker does Starscream see the threatening pose and the bright and completely white optics.

He barely manages to retreat to safety before the seeker swipes at him, the sound of large heavy chains following the movement, and Starscream hisses when a sting of pain is felt on his right arm. With wide optics he stares at Thundercracker, watching as the grounders around the seeker pulls on large chains to keep the seeker in check, something that is clearly an effort for the ten mechs. Only because some of the chains connect to the seekers wings are they able to prevent the blue seeker from attacking Starscream further.

Looking down at the energon welling up from the large deep gash Thundercracker has torn in his arm, he is shocked; his mind filled with denial and disbelief of what Thundercracker just had done.

Thundercracker would never hurt him, not unnecessarily, not like this.

Looking up, optics still wide, he no longer sees Thundercracker in front of him, but an insane deranged seeker devoid of any feelings or any sort of sentience.

Thundercracker has become as wild and non-sentient as the petro rabbits the seekers used to hunt.

Turning his helm and looking at Megatron he needs to know.

“What have you done to him?!” he asks terrified.

“We just removed some troublesome coding.” Megatron answers.

“Y-You removed some of his coding.” The seeker stutters, the fear returning in his spark.

He still remembers the conversation he had with Ratchet when the trine coding first activated in him and caused trouble. He is sure that the removal of said coding have done horrendous damage to Thundercracker, the evidence of it clear to him as he looks at the seeker in front of him. Thundercracker no longer recognizes him as future trine maybe not even as kin. There is more beast than seeker in the Winglord right now with only the most basic and primal coding remaining inside the blue seeker.

It all makes the blue seeker unpredictable and more dangerous than ever before.

“Are you even able to control him?” the tricolored seeker asks, watching as Thundercracker fights against the chains, making the grounders struggle to keep their hold on the seeker.

´Shouldn’t the mind controller subdue him?´ Starscream wonders as he watches one of the grounders lose its grip on his chain and flail before ending on the ground on his aft.

“Of course we can control him!” Megatron snarls, but the fire in his words isn’t present in his optics and Starscream knows that the decepticon leader knows the mistake he has done.

But there is no changing it.

Thundercracker is forever lost to them.

“And to demonstrate it, let´s carry on with the reason for us all to be here.” Megatron adds with a wicked glint in his optics.

Tensing at the words, Starscream knows what is expected of him. He isn’t sure if he is going to get a head start this time, so to not waste precious time he turns on his thrusters and is already in motion less than a klik later.

With the tricolored seeker suddenly moving, fleeing the clearing rapidly, Thundercrackers basic instincts is flaring and unprepared for the seekers leap into the air, the ten grounders all loses their grip on the seeker and they can only watch as the blue frame takes to the sky, tearing off the annoying chains connecting to its frame and fluidly transforms into its tetrajet and begins to pursue the fleeing tricolored seeker.

In the little clearing a roar of anger is followed by the sound of several shots from a fusion cannon, and none of the ten mechs are ever going to rise again with the decepticon leader unleashing his wrath at their failure.

In the sky Starscream tries to lay as much distance to the clearing with the grounders as possible, forcing more fuel to his engine and pushing his speed. But this time he is so energy deprived that he won´t be able to keep up the speed for more than a few breems. He can already see the warnings on his HUD, his energy levels are critical low and with the current push on his engine he is depleting himself dangerously. The small amount of fuel that Megatron had forced into him was just enough to get him airborne and keep him there, but he is practically running on fumes and he can feel the fatigue from his engine as more and more of the liquid fuel turns to the less efficient vapors in his lines.

While Starscream contemplates his critical energy levels, he isn’t aware of Thundercracker being in the air and already pursuing him ruthlessly, able to maintain his full speed with a full tank. So far Starscream has managed to lay so much distance to the clearing and the other seeker that he didn’t detect when the blue seeker without orders began to chase him.

Now a breem later he is fighting to keep his engine running to avoid falling out of the sky, and as his speed lowers Thundercracker is able to gain in on the tricolored seeker, and Starscreams wing sensors pings him with the incoming blue seeker.

Despite his attempt to quell the rising panic in his spark, Starscream can feel how his spark suddenly begins to pulse faster and more erratic in its chamber, the feeling of an unavoidable fate hanging heavy above him, sending him into a near panic that threatens to stall and seize him.

Every klik his wing sensors confirms Thundercracker steadily closing in on him, and with every klik the panic grows; his mind and processor stressing as he tries to come up with a way out.

In the back of his processor thoughts are taking precedence, the sensation of the compartment Ratchet had added to his wrist, now hidden inside his altmode, almost burning. His processor is demanding that he uses it to save himself while his spark screams no.

While Starscream is caught up in his turmoil Thundercracker closes the last distance between the two seekers, efficiently intercepting the tricolored seeker, and before Starscream manages to react, the blue seeker has transformed and leapt through the air, firmly landing on him, digging its talons into his delicate wings.

Screaming in searing agony Starscream fights to keep his flight stable as the weight of the other seeker now on him is destabilizing his flight and forcing him down. His engine isn’t able to carry the extra weight in his energy depleted state and he knows that he has to do something if they aren’t to crash into the ground.

In sheer desperation he transforms into root mode, trying to dislodge Thundercracker from his wings as he fires his thrusters to slow his descend towards the ground to reduce the damage by the impact.

When he impacts with the ground he can feel the pain travel up his legs from his thrusters and it is so intense it almost offlines him then and there. Then when the worst of the initial pain defuses he feels the second wave of pain, this time solely from his thrusters and he can feel how they have buckled under the force of the impact. Looking down he can see a large pool of energon already gathering from several cracks in his plating, some of the cracks even traveling up to his knee joint.

When the haze of pain slowly abates a bit he realizes that Thundercracker no longer is clinging to his frame, and looking around he sees the frame of the other seeker not far away, lying on its front.

He can just stare as Thundercracker slowly rises from the ground seemingly undamaged and just shrugs off the shock from the impact with the ground. Where Starscream suffered damage from the direct impact with the ground the blue seeker was just thrown off his frame by the sheer force of the impact, not suffering any true damage to his frame.

Crouching low with optics trained on the blue seeker as Thundercracker regains his focus and begins to turn and face him; Starscream fires his nullrays at the other seeker before Thundercracker manages to regain all his control. When the pink beams hit without causing any effect Starscream curses vividly, Thundercracker isn’t damaged enough to allow the charges of nullification to reach the essential systems beneath his armor and crash them.

Instead he has just gotten the blue seekers attention, and Thundercracker is visibly enraged by his attacks.

Retreating slowly with the blue seeker advancing in on him, both seekers are focused on one another, primed and ready to react at any sign of vulnerability.

With his focus solely on Thundercracker, Starscream doesn’t pay any attention to his other surroundings and by sheer misfortune he is backing into a clutch of trees behind him, shredding his hurting wings further at the impact with the obstacle and distracting him from the blue seeker coming at him.

With the tricolored seeker flinching in pain and distracted for a nano klik Thundercracker literally jumps into action, jumping onto Starscream and efficiently forcing the submissive to the ground with the blue seekers larger frame on top of him.

Forced to the ground, Starscream tries to protect himself from the other seeker, servos lifting to protect his vulnerable neck and face. Doing so his arms is taking the most of the incoming attack and the compartment housing the container with the two syringes Ratchet had added to his left wrist is ripped from his arm and lost somewhere on the ground out of the seekers reach.

Whimpering at the pain from his arms he tries to ignore the pain and clenches his dentas as he uses some of his last strength to remove Thundercracker from his frame. Digging his claws into a shoulder seam he ignores the snarl of pain from the blue seeker and uses the spot to force the blue seeker up and away, his own frame following in the motion and he succeeds in throwing Thundercracker off him.

Using the precious kliks of freedom he rolls to his left and away from the blue seeker before Thundercracker is able to trap him again. As he rolls his wings complain viciously, the wounds inflicted on them by Thundercrackers talons hurting at the movements that bends the wings and opens the wounds more, his right wing even bending the wrong way when he completes the full roll to end on his back again.

During the roll his servos flails and by sheer lucky connects to something hard in his movement. Grabbing around it he knows what it is; the compartment housing the syringes.

Coming out of his roll he blindly tries to get it open with one servo as the other is protecting his neck and face with Thundercracker almost upon him again.

When Thundercracker falls upon him, the blue seeker mercilessly stomps on his flailing servo that tries to get the compartment open and by effect crushes the compartment. Feeling how his servo is ground into the ruined metal of the compartment Starscream senses something wet against his claws and he knows that one of the syringes has been destroyed by the stomp.

With the compartment finally open as Thundercrackers stomp crushed it, Starscream digs for the other syringe that hopefully is still whole. A sigh of relief leaves him when his servo closes around the syringe and he jerks it out of the compartment.

At the current angle of his servo he isn’t able to see the color of the liquid in the syringe and he tries to turn it in his servo to get the right angle to plunge it into Thundercracker just as the blue seeker traps him once again.

Sensing the threat when Starscream moves his servo to strike him with the syringe, Thundercracker deflects the attack with a servo around Starscreams wrist and twists the tricolored seekers servo in a painful grip, in advance turning it with the syringe´s needle now facing downward.

Ignoring the syringe in Starscreams right servo Thundercracker seizes the left servo and forces it away from where it is protecting the tricolored seekers face and neck. Whimpering Starscream stares up in the white optics sensing the attack that is going to be his death coming.

Preparing to strike for the vulnerable neck Thundercracker leans forward and by doing so pushes the needle of the syringe in Starscreams right servo into the seeker below him.

Optic widening when he feels the needle breach his plating and enter into him, Starscreams optics diverts from Thundercracker to stare at the syringe and the pitch black content being released into his frame.

Paralyzed at the sight of the syringe entering his frame he turns his attention from the now empty syringe and back to the hovering murderous seeker above him. His optics begins to well with tears as he looks into the white optics in the other seeker. He can already feel the deadly work of the Trojan inside his frame.

The next moment Thundercracker strikes at his neck and Starscream jerks violently at the feeling of the blue seekers fangs digging deeply into his neck, severing several essential wires and cables and rupturing the energon lines running there.

´I am sorry Ratchet. I should have listened. I should have used it before.´ He apologizes before he feels how he is dragged out of his frame as darkness slowly surrounds him and he fades from the mortal world.

At least his death is rather painless.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have once again felt the need to split up a chapter. Reason for this is mainly because i have come to a point where i seem to be unable to crack it like i want it, and have had a few days now where i have been unable to progress. Instead of having you all waiting endlessly until i make it right, i have decided to upload the first half of the chapter. Another reason is once again the length. Enjoy.

When the darkness surrounding Starscream slowly retreats he looks around in puzzlement. He can still see the forest surrounding him, but everything is colored in a shade of green and grey and he can’t see beyond a few dozen feet. Turning around to take in more of his surroundings he is face to face with the source to the green coloration.

A portal fluctuates calmly in front of him covering the area in its neon green hue.

Wary he looks at the twirls forming inside the twisting circle and he slowly steps closer.

He is vaguely aware that as he moves closer to the portal more and more of the world around him vanishes into darkness, but at the moment all his attention is on the strange occurrence in front of him.

Had he paid attention to the world around him he would have been able to see glimpses from the mortal world he barely is a part of anymore. He would have seen Thundercracker, colored in a sickly green and blue coloration bend over his frame, the enormous pool of energon gathered beneath his own frame and still flowing in a steady stream from the severed energon lines in his neck, his frame completely grey, but the spark still pulsing franticly in his frame, the fuel pump trying to keep him alive by circulating more of the energon still lingering inside his frame to the essential parts of his system. But all it contributes to is to speed up the death of his frame.

Almost touching the portal now, the greying world around him creeps closer, his spark in the dying frame stopping its pulsing and the fuel pump begins to stutter for precious nano kliks.

Then he is in contact with the green energy powering the portal and in the mortal world his spark extinguishes and his frame previously tense in death cramps goes completely slack, nothing no longer powering it.

Sucked into the portal at the touch, he is surrounded by blinding light as he crosses the barrier between the living world and the afterlife.

While he is carried to his destination in the afterlife, his death is felt in the mortal world.

Ratchet collapses in the medbay at the autobot base, painfully clutching at his chestplates, feeling the breaking of the weak but still important creator/creation bond, a chilling scream leaving his vocalizer at the loss of the part of him that has become more important to him than his own life.

While the autobots gathers around the mourning medic, Megatron roars in victory at the sight of the greying frame, watching Thundercrackers slaughter of the tricolored seeker through feeds from Laserbeak.

Hovering above the dead seeker, Thundercracker roars out his own victory at the defeat of the other seeker, his spark pulsing in deep pain, but unfelt by the deranged and insane seeker.

Stepping out of the portal and the blinding light, that had encased him, Starscream offline and onlines his optics several times as he looks around.

He stares in awe at the sight greeting him, his optics taking in the countless seekers flying in the air, some playing some talking. There are so many colorful frames of his kin; it is a stunning sight to watch for the seeker who has lived all his life secluded from his kin.

He is so taken by the sight that he doesn’t sense the two frames walking towards him on the ground.

When his optics finally leaves the sight in the air, he turns and looks at the two arrivals.

One is a beautiful mesh of red and blue, yellow optics shining with deep caring feelings and a weak smile gracing its lips. Its wings are fanning calmly on its back, but now and then Starscream can see the restrained twitches signaling eagerness.

The other is indescribable.

He just stares at the translucent seeker, watching in even greater awe as sparks travels down the frame, which is almost as large as Thundercrackers.

The thought of the blue seeker causes a strange pang to occur in his chest and his optics widens as he clutches his chestplates.

Allowing his optics to take in the translucent seeker, he finally lifts his gaze to its face and he gasps at the sight of the black optics.

As he looks, the seeker slowly smiles, but unlike the other seeker's smile, which is a smile of happiness, this smile shows sadness.

Then the translucent seeker steps forth and opens its arms in an open embrace towards him.

/Welcome Starscream, to the afterlife./ The Sky Above greets.

Offlining his optics, Starscream allows the sound of the voice to fill him. It is so soothing, like a gentle caress on his frame.

Then the voice speaks again, and he just wants to allow it to lull him into a sweet recharge, but moments later he feels a faint tingling touch to his frame and he onlines his optics only to look deeply into the black optics shining with stars.

/I know you need rest. But before that, allow me to introduce you to someone./ the god tells him, understanding.

Then the translucent seeker turns and waves the red and blue seeker closer.

/This is-/ The Sky Above begins.

/Carrier./ Starscream gasps stunned. He can feel it in his whole frame as the other seeker steps closer and almost touches him.

He might never have known his biological carrier and there have never been a creator/creation bond between them, but he has been nestled beside this seeker's spark during his development from spark to seekerling and he just knows who the seeker is, recognizing this special spark as the one nurturing him into life.

/Yes./ the god confirms. /This is Starcatcher, your carrier-creator./

/What about my creator-creator. Is he here?/ Starscream asks hopeful.

At the question Starcatcher looks at the god, and Starscream doesn’t see the helm shake the god gives the carrier. No, Starcatcher is not to tell anything.

/He still lives./ is the only answer the god gives.

/Oh./ Starscream responds, his wings drooping slightly on his back. He had hoped to meet his creator too. He has always longed to know of his origin, of those who had given him life, and with his carrier confirmed dead by Ratchet he had always wondered who his biological creator could be and if he ever was going to meet him.

He doesn’t ask further, sensing that the topic is not to be discussed.

Instead he turns and nuzzles into his carrier. At least he now knows who had birthed him.

/I understand you have inherited my speed?/ the carrier asks curiously hugging Starscream closer to his frame.

Looking up Starscream can't help the smile on his lips.

/Yes./ He smiles.

/Want to show me how good you are my little one?/ the carrier asks, gently nibbling at one of Starscreams audio receptors.

With a sigh The Sky Above watches the two seekers take to the sky. He can always talk to Starscream later.

For a moment the god watches as Starscream and Starcatcher flies side by side, both easily staying at each other’s side when they pushes their engines to the limits. Few seekers are able to keep up with Starcatcher and it is clear as he watches the two seekers fly that Starscream truly favors his carrier's abilities more than his creator's. Then with a deep sigh The Sky Above turns and passes through the portal and enters the ethereal plane, the path between the mortal world and the afterlife.

He has something to do.

Entering the ethereal plane and looking into the world of the living no more than a klik has passed for those still living while roughly a cycle has already gone by for those in the afterlife.

Watching Thundercracker roar out his victory at the killing of Starscream the god shakes his helm in sadness. Then he draws on his powers and instantly everything is frozen in limbo.

Time already passes differently in the mortal world and the afterlife, but with Starscream now dead and present in the afterlife; the god knows that he needs time to prepare Starscream for what is to come.

The tricolored seeker should never have died, but with the paths of the seekers deviating this much, Starscreams death had become inevitable and the god had allowed him to pass through the portal when his spark extinguished in the mortal world. There was no point in denying Starscream this little moment of peace. He had already had some suspicions about the tricolored seeker, originating all the way back to Starscreams creation thousands of vorns ago.

The god’s suspicions had been verified the instant the tricolored seeker stepped through the portal and into the afterlife and had Starscream not been so awed about his surroundings he would have noticed it himself.

When a seeker's spark extinguishes in the mortal world it doesn’t cease to exist completely, instead it travels to the ethereal plane and then to the afterlife if the seeker decides to leave the mortal world completely. In the afterlife the spark creates a celestial image of the vessel it lived in during its time in the mortal world, just as physical as the frame had been in the world of the living. Even the colors persist.

But Starscreams spark is special and when he had materialized in the afterlife he had been changed.

Instead of the usual white coloration on his wings he had attained the same translucence on them like the god's own, an evident remnant from Starscreams very creation.

Thundercracker, Skywarp and Starscream hadn’t just been chosen by the god, they had been created from his own essence, fusing his energies with their carriers during their sparking.

That Thundercracker had been the one to donate coding to create Starscream caused Starscream to carry a larger part of the god’s own essence within him. It hadn’t been the intentions to have the blue seeker spark his own future trinemate and mate and it had threatened the balance The Sky Above had hoped to create. The Sky Above had not been able to see the outcome of the merging of his essence with Thundercrackers own and the part of the god’s essence that was a part of Thundercracker. The seeker created by the merging could be a blessing as well as damnation for the seekers as a people and the god had decided to separate the created spark from its true people and watch its development from a distance. The carrier, Starcatcher, had understood the god’s worry and had willingly sacrificed himself in the knowledge that his newspark would survive and grow up in the care of others.

It had been a wise decision it later turned out.

The Sky Above knew it when he had seen the coloration the seekerling developed.

Every seeker born naturally among its people favors two shades of coloration, usually taken from the carrier and creators own color schemes or what else the creators’ coding hold. However when the god decides to merge his own essence into a creation the outcome can cause the seekerling to develop more than two colors and usually the way the colors shows tells about how much the god’s interference in the creation has been. It had happened to Thundercracker. He was mainly blue, but the stripes of white and red on his wings were telling. However Skywarp just favored the usual two colors and didn’t show any visible signs of his special creation.

In Starscreams case he showed all three colors equally and thus stood out among any other seeker, the vibrant white color taken from the god himself.

Furthermore the separation of the newspark from its people served another purpose.

Forming a creator/creation bond to the adopting creators chosen for the newspark would hinder Thundercracker in forming one with his future trinemate. That meant that the newspark would remain hidden from its people for as long as the god deemed necessary and the fact that Thundercracker had sparked his own mate would not complicate their future together. Any bond among them before the forming of the trinebond could make it impossible for the trine- or any other kind of bond to form. So it was imperative that no such bond would be formed between the two future mates before it was time to do so.

That time had been close, but yet to come.

Now with Starscream dead and with him in the afterlife, The Sky Above has finally decided that it is time to do more than just watch. He for once will interfere in the life of his creations more directly than he usually does. He has always led his creations in the right direction through small pushes here and there, the creation of the three seekers one of those small pushes.

But this time things had gone awfully wrong and he hadn’t been able to predict any outcome.

The only thing that had succeeded for him was to hide Starscream from his people and unite the three seekers when the time had seemed right. But again something had corrupted his visions and their paths had deviated drastically with Thundercracker killing Starscream.

Turning away from the world held in limbo, The Sky Above returns to the afterlife and Starscream.

This time the push is going to be a harsh shove in the right direction, and Starscream is going to be the catalyst when he sends the seeker back into his frame held frozen and as undamaged as possible. But before he is going to send the tricolored seeker back, The Sky Above is going to show the seeker parts of their history, hoping to make up for the fact that Starscream basically knows nothing about himself or his people. There is a lot of knowledge that the seeker has missed out on, and a lot of knowledge that has been forgotten among all his currently living creations. He hopes that by teaching Starscream, what he is about to do is going to make more sense to the seekers, and especially those affected directly.

The fact that Starscream even is able to return to his frame is something that hasn’t happened for eons and is the only good outcome from Thundercracker becoming creator to his own mate. The added essence from the blue seeker is just enough to make Starscream into what is known with the term ´god borne´ and as such, even true death can be overcome, as long as the frame still lingers fairly undamaged in the mortal world.

While The Sky Above schemes in the mortal world Starscream enjoys the flight together with Starcatcher in the afterlife, unaware of his future and the impact it is going to have on everyone around him.

Playfully challenging his carrier he loops and dives, using other seekers as obstacles while he laughing tells the red and blue seeker everything about Ratchet and the autobots.

The flight is refreshing and cleansing for his spark and he can let go of all the fear and anguish that had filled him the last few days he had had in the mortal world. It is so easy for him to forget everything that has transpired in the presence of his carrier that all the hurt is unable to fester inside him.

In advance his carrier teaches him everything he needs to know about the afterlife.

Curious he asks questions and Starcatcher answers with a smile.

There is no night or day cycle in the afterlife, everything is bright and there is no true time measurement. Everything relies on the far away galaxies visible in the sky. It is rumored that the galaxies they can see in the sky are other places like the afterlife, housing different kinds of life when that life passes on from their living world. Sometimes the galaxies are closer and other times further away and their movements all sums up the time of an orn passing.

There is no need for them to recharge either, the need to rest that Starscream feels is a remnant from the time they were alive, something that fades over time and most of the inhabitants in the afterlife don’t feel the need anymore.

As they fly Starscream marvels at the sight spread out before him. The afterlife looks nothing like Earth; neither does it look like Cybertron, even if it takes on the look of a forest that could belong to his home planet. Still, it stretches on infinitely and no matter how long they fly he is unable to locate any end or change in the texture of the ground beneath them. Everywhere he can see the forest covering the surface, here and there with openings allowing for smaller or larger clearings where more and more seekers are gathered, enjoying the afterlife.

Landing in one of the clearings, Starscream looks around curious. It still awes him to see so many seekers.

With his carrier leading him through the large area, he can feel how the need to recharge grows on him, and he can´t help the tired smile when Starcatcher gestures towards a nesting area at the edge of the clearing.

/We don’t need to refuel here either, our energy comes from our surroundings, but it takes a while for your spark to tab into it. I guess that is why you feel the need to recharge when you first arrives here and why the need slowly vanishes./ the carrier explains with a smile.

/Now rest./ Starcatcher gently orders, allowing the tricolored seeker to curl into his plating.

Listening to the lulling trills of his carrier Starscream allows his frame to cycle down and he enters recharge with a smile on his lips.

Death isn’t that bad.

Allowing Starscream to enjoy some time together with his carrier The Sky Above waits until a few orns has passed since Starscreams arrival to the afterlife before he seeks out the tricolored seeker again.

With a gentle thud the god lands gracefully at the edge of the small clearing housing Starcatcher´s resting area and nods and smiles to the seekers moving around him.

With purpose he walks towards the center and the large group of seekers gathered there and when the group slowly clears and allows him to see the center of the attention he can´t help the smile. It is clear that Starscream is drawing attention with the fact that he carries three colors and the god inspects the tricolored seeker closely to be sure that the dampening he had added to Starscream to cover the translucence of his wings still holds. The wings are shimmering faintly but showing nothing but their plain white coloration to Starscream self and the rest of the group around him.

Only those who knew what to look for would notice the dampening done and be able to see the full glow of the seemingly plain white wings and understand what they looked at. It was an ability only possessed by seekers sharing the same origin, thus why only a selected group so far would be able to see beyond the veil the god had created.

And that is one of the reasons the god is there in the clearing now.

It is time for Starscream to learn about his people, and they are going to start from the very beginning.

The smile widens when Starscream looks up and sees him, the fluttering of the white wings showing the tricolored seekers curiousness to why the translucent seeker is there.

Canting his helm, the god beckons Starscream over and watches in amusement when the seeker fights to get free of the crowd. Lastly his carrier lets out a growl in warning and slowly the group dissipates and leaves Starscream alone.

Motioning for the seeker to follow him, The Sky Above begins to walk slowly towards the edge of the clearing where they will be able to take off and fly.

Meanwhile as they walk, the god feels how Starscream still can´t help staring at his frame and to not stall their introduction further he stops and turns towards the curious seeker.

/I know I haven’t introduced myself to you yet Starscream. I felt you needed something and someone to make you feel at ease in these new environments./ The Sky Above begins to explain.

At the mentioning of the carrier Starscream can´t help the look over his shoulder to where his carrier is now standing alone. A dip of a red wing is enough to make Starscreams own react and he mirrors the gesture with a blinding smile.

The fond feelings between the two seekers are palpable in the air and the god enjoys the feelings of joy transmitted from the tricolored seeker.

/He has missed you so much./ the god says to get Starscreams attention again.

When Starscream turns his attention back to the translucent seeker, the god’s demeanor grows a bit more serious.

/Has he told you who I am?/ The Sky Above inquire.

/No./ Starscream answers with a shake of his helm. He doesn’t know who the other seeker is, but by his special look it is clear that he is important, and the power stemming from him is heady. He might have an idea, but don’t dare to voice it in fear that he is going to offend the other.

/I am your creator. You are my people. I´m your god Starscream./ The Sky Above proclaims as he gently takes Starscreams helm in his servos and caresses the cheeks affectionately.

/Primus./ Starscream voices uncertain, to which the god laughs deeply.

/I see you favor your adopted creator deeply. Yes I am known by that designation too young seeker, but I was The Sky Above long before that designation was put on me./ the god answers, mirth filling his voice.

Then the god waves dismissingly, sensing the growing amount of questions in the young seeker.

/Later. We have time to talk about that later. Now I have someone to introduce you to. Don´t fear, they are some of my oldest and most closest friends./ the god continues as they begin to walk the last distance to be clear to take to the sky, tone more serious but still holding a slight of the laugh.

Powering his thrusters the god takes to the sky and hovers above Starscream, waiting for the other seeker to get airborne before he sets his flight path into the far distance. The place they are going to visit and its inhabitants are staying secluded from the rest of the afterlife.

It takes them a whole orn before Starscream gets the clearing that is their destination into his visual. During their flight, silence has reigned and the tricolored seeker wonders who he is going to be introduced to. The god´s words have him intrigued. Which kind of friends did a god have? And who could possibly hope to get their god to call them friends?

When the god begins to slow down in speed and begins a relaxed dive towards the ground Starscream slowly follows, his sensors trained on the clearing in front of them coming closer and closer. It is large, much larger than the others he has seen in the afterlife.

Following the god he overflies the clearing and his visual shows him the group of seekers gathered in the middle. All of them are looking up and Starscream can see curiosity visible in the way they flexes their wings. He doesn’t register more on their pass before they land at the far away edge of the clearing. Landing beside the god he transforms and allows his thrusters to connect with the ground.

He can still see the group gathered in the middle of the clearing far away from where they have landed, and curiously he studies what he can see. He can´t help the frown filling his facial features. There is something wrong with those seekers, but he still doesn’t know what has his sensors irked.

/As I told you when we took off Starscream, don´t fear. No harm is going to happen to you in their presence./ The Sky Above reassures sensing his discomfort.

Then the god begins to walk towards the middle of the clearing. It takes some time for them to get close enough for Starscream to see the colors of the seekers occupying this clearing. But when he does and is able to distinct their different color schemes he can see the flourish of every color ever existing. Furthermore he realizes that they, unlike the seekers he has been introduced to in Thundercrackers group and the groups he has stayed among together with his carrier, favors more than two colors on their frames.

He can´t help the look down his own frame and measure his own coloration to the seekers in front of him. He remembers the fascination among the group the god had pulled him from and somehow he senses the importance in the facts laid out in front of him. Still he doesn’t understand what makes these seekers and him so different than the regular seeker.

The dozens of miles wide clearing slowly grows smaller and smaller the closer they get to the group of three colored seekers and then Starscream understands what had his sensors confused. These seekers are extremely large. He had always thought Thundercracker large. But compared to these seekers the Winglord is a mere youngling frame. Measuring their height to the god as Starscream stops a bit away of the group, allowing the god to walk closer to them alone, he realizes that the god is only half the size of them.

Unsure of what to do, if he should get closer or just stay where he is at the moment, in a safe distance away from the other seekers, Starscream fidgets, his thrusters scurrying at the ground making painful screeching noises while his wings are held taut on his back. His optics is downcast, unable to meet the clearly curious row of optics studying his frame. He can almost feel how they scrutinize his compared to theirs pathetic frame.

Then as Starscream is overwhelmed by misery a seeker emerges from within the group in the center of the clearing, standing out from the rest of the large seekers with his aura and special color scheme.

Feeling the trembling of the ground as large thrusters slowly comes closer and closer Starscream looks up and his mouth opens wide in shock and fascination.

The seeker in front of him is a stunning display of gold, yellow and orange mixed with the god´s translucence and it all makes the seeker glow like a sun.

When the seeker stops mere steps away from him, Starscream lowers his optics again, feeling strangely unworthy to watch the stunning sight in front of him.

But he is forced to look up when the other seeker kneels in front of him and gently lifts his helm with a claw. Shaking, Starscream looks at the claw touching him. It is menacingly long, almost as long as his underarm and he feels weak and vulnerable at the look of it.

Allowing the other to lift his helm he allows his optics to meet those of the others and once again he is shocked, his optics becoming impossibly wide at the sight that greets him.

They are black.

Just like the god´s.

And then just like that The Sky Above is there beside the other seeker, smiling reassuringly.

/Starscream, may I present to you, Solaris Brood carrier to all seeker kin./ the god introduces.

Starscream feels how his frame suddenly becomes weak and only the claw still lingering gently under his jawline is what keeps him from collapsing. A shudder travels his frame as his legs fights to regain their posture and be able to keep him standing.

Those optics.

He can feel how they bore into his own and he is unable to look away.

When the sun colored seeker finally offlines and onlines his optics Starscream feels elated that he finally is able to break the intense optics contact, still the claw holds him fixated and he is unable to look away from the others face.

/Welcome Starscream./ The brood carrier finally speaks after a long moment of silence, the voice gentle and filled with emotions that Starscream don´t understand.

/I apologize for my harshness but I needed to know, to see your life. A seeker like you hasn’t been born for millennia. I now understand why The Sky Above wanted to introduce you to me, to us./ the brood carrier continues, voice trembling slightly for a moment before the seeker regains his control.

Then with a frown the large seeker turns to the god and begins to talk in a tongue Starscream isn’t able to understand completely. Small words here and there are the only thing he is able to discern. Instead of listening he studies the two frames as the god and the brood carrier clearly is discussing something that has the sun colored seeker greatly upset.

During their conversation the claw under his jaw is removed as the brood carrier begins to gesticulate vividly with his servos while the magnificent large wings on his back trembles with barely restrained anger.

Entranced by the moving wings Starscream can´t resist the urge to reach out and touch.

But before his claws even manage to reach them, a warning roar is unleashed from somewhere behind the seeker in front of him. Moments later two large seekers makes their presence known and Starscream shies away, the hostility is visible in their stances as they tower above him, the same black colored optics flashing down at him.

/Ixxion! Kholkar!/ Solaris roars in counter, turning around and facing the two seekers.

Doing this Starscream is suddenly face first into the wings he had wanted to touch, but is too afraid to do more than cower at the sheer power flowing in the air around him.

Solaris still talks in the tongue Starscream can´t understand and he can only watch as the sun colored seeker clearly puts the others in their place, the aggressively raised wings on their backs lowering in clear submission. Towering above the still kneeling brood carrier the two seekers are still able to seem so much smaller than Solaris and Starscream can´t help thinking about Skywarp and the way the black and purple seeker now and then treated Thundercracker. If he didn’t feel so put out in this strange company he would have found it all amusing to watch.

With some last words to the two scolded seekers Solaris casts the god one last heated glare before turning his attention back onto Starscream with optics showing deep care.

Surprising the smaller seeker Solaris holds a servo out towards him and unsure of what to do he just stares at the offered appendage.

/Touch me. Open yourself to me and allow me to open up to you./ the sun colored seeker tells him in a gentle tone, black optics unerringly sparkling with unseen emotions.

Carefully touching his claws to the surface of the offered servo Starscream gasps, sensing the almost infinite powers lingering underneath the plating he touches. Then Solaris takes a firmer grip on his servo and he is hurled into pure ecstasy.

Starscream barely manages to register the overload coursing through his frame before a blinding light engulfs him and a voice soothingly talks to him, telling him to see and learn.

And then the light clears and he is no longer where he was together with the god and Solaris, instead he is Solaris and his surroundings is clearly Cybertron, with forests stretching wide beneath him as he flies.

Turning his helm he sees the outline of the two seekers who had stopped him from touching Solaris, and Solaris helpfully provides him with their designations. Ixxion, second wing in their formation showing a beautiful mesh of pale blue, dark purple, white and translucence is flying by the right. To his left he sees the stunning colors of dark blue, pitch black as well as the blinding white together with the same translucence showed by the others that is Kholkar, the third wing.

-We were the first seekers created. Our god´s first sentient creations.- Solaris provides in their strange connection.

Then the scene cuts to another place and another time and Starscream can´t stop the cringe at the sight that greets him. This time Ixxion hovers above Solaris and the sun colored seeker shares bits of feelings with Starscream, allowing him to sense what is going on inside the brood carriers frame during the first sparking.

The next scene is a hunt, where he watches the three large seekers down prey almost the size of themselves with their large claws tearing into and ripping open the sides of the beast they are working together on downing. The animal is retaliating with vicious attacks and none of the seekers avoids getting damaged during the fight. But lastly the seekers succeed and their prey is left venting, but clearly in death cramps.

Every new scene is a new aspect of the life as a seeker, and Solaris supports them with explanations when he feels that Starscream is uncertain about what he is seeing and freely answers any question the smaller seeker might have.

Then after having witnessed Solaris´ first birthing and realizing that the brood carrier is able to carry several sparks at the same time, the explanation given by Solaris the fact that his spark is almost equaling the powers of their god and thus able to nurture more than one spark at a time without being drained dry of energy, the scenes changes from showing the early time in the seekers creation to a time where Cybertron flourish with a growing population of seekers and Solaris is no longer the only one able to spark new seekers.

Starscream is witness to the time of the ancients and the forming of their society into its complexity still lived in his life time.

However one thing surprises him greatly as well as confuses him.

There is no sense of trines among the ancient seekers.

-Trines didn’t exist in our life time young one.- Solaris responds to his confusion.

-Trines are something that came after the last of the ancients died out. We favored what is called tirades, a powerful connection fusing the essence of three seekers together in a three-way bond. It might sound much like your trine bond, but it is actually more like spark bonding to you.- Solaris continues to explain as Starscream follows the life of his ancestors through the memories of the brood carrier.

During several cycles Solaris presents scene after scene to Starscream, covering every aspect of the life during the time of the ancients and with each new scene, Starscream gains new knowledge about himself and his kin as well as gaining experience and understanding in the way seekers interacts among each other.

Then Solaris presents him with on last scene and Starscream instantly knows that there is something wrong with this memory. Everything is clouded in a strange mist and searing agony floods him forcing pained gasps from his vocalizer and causes him to clutch painfully at his chest.

-What is this?- the smaller seeker asks confused.

-I´m sorry Starscream. This memory is of great importance to all of our people, but I can´t reveal it all to you. It holds information you are not allowed access to yet.- Solaris explains, pain evident in the voice.

-Y-You are dying?- Starscream asks between gasps, sensing how the life clearly is seeping out of Solaris in the memory.

-I was but I didn’t die.- Solaris comforts. –I was and still am what is known as god borne Starscream; death had no power over me.-

-But you ARE dead now.- he points out confused.

-Ah, yes.- Solaris sighs, -That explanation have to wait for when the time is right for you to know.- the brood carrier apologizes.

-For now I have showed you all I can.-

And with that Starscream once again is engulfed in blinding light before he is returned to the clearing in the afterlife. Shaking his helm he looks around and finds himself on the ground, his touch to Solaris broken with the brood carrier standing slightly above him looking down with a sad smile.

/What I showed you is only a little part of our history, but I hope it is enough for you to understand yourself better./ Solaris explains, not offering any servo to help him up. After all their frames are their sparks here in the afterlife and by touching, their energies are going to mingle again. It is dangerous with one as powerful as the brood carrier.

Slowly rising on unsteady legs he gains his posture and nods his helm in thanks to Solaris.

Then he turns towards the god and he frowns.

/I still don’t know why I need to know this? Don’t take me wrong, I am thankful that I now know more about myself and the people I belong to, but what purpose is there? I´m dead./ he asks the god, defeated at the thought of never becoming what the god meant for him to be.

With a wide smile The Sky Above gestures towards Solaris and the sun colored seeker mirrors the smile.

/May I?/ Solaris asks the god.

A nod from The Sky Above has Solaris walking up close to Starscream before he gently allows his claws to caress the edges of Starscreams wings, whisking away the dampening and allowing the wings to glow at their full capacity.

/You are a god borne Starscream. The first in a very long time, and your creation is going to change a lot when you once again returns to the mortal world./ Solaris says with a smile.

Stunned Starscream stares at his wings, watching as sparks shimmers in the translucence covering them and awed he gently touches the surface like he has never seen his wings before.

Then the words said registers.

/How?/ he asks, stupefied.

This time it is The Sky Above who answers his question.

/I created you, Thundercracker and Skywarp to be a trine with a certain purpose with your sparks destined to bond even before you were sparked in your carriers. I offered of my own essence in each of your creations, but something went wrong in yours, leaving you with a larger part of my essence within you. It is partly the reason for why I separated you from your people. I needed to be sure the unintended powers infused in you during your creation wouldn´t destabilize your people if Thundercracker or Skywarp found you too early and tried to trine to you./ The god explains, sounding slightly apologetic.

Something in the god's wording has Starscream frowning again.

/Tried to trine to me?/ he asks, the frown deepening when his question causes Solaris' wings to drop slightly.

/Yes tried to. As a god borne you are not able to trinebond to either Thundercracker or Skywarp./ The Sky Above confesses, optics wandering to Solaris.

Seeing the evident hurt manifest in Starscream, Solaris kneels in front of him again.

/Remember Starscream. Trine bonds didn’t exist at the time of the ancients and the god borne. You might have the coding from your carrier and creator, but you are more a creation of our god than any regular seeker. Your spark is too powerful to form any bond but the fusion into a triade. You won't be able to get a trine but you are able to form a triade with Thundercracker and Skywarp./ Solaris sooths.

A lone energon tear travels Starscreams cheek and the brood carrier gently removes it with the tip of a claw, cooing softly.

/But what about Thundercracker?/ he asks, another feeling of hurt entering his frame. The Winglord, his future mate, is no longer himself.

He can't stop the shiver as he recalls the madness that has overtaken the blue seeker, seeing the unemotional white optics as they stares down at him just before the blue seeker kills him.

Looking up, Solaris shares a glance with the god, a silent communication happening between them, and the brood carriers frame flashes beautifully bright for a moment.

/I know what has happened Starscream. Thundercracker is no longer Winglord, barely a seeker in his current state./ Solaris answers, voice tinted with sadness. /The very essence carried by the Winglord has returned to its origin. Me./ With that the brood carrier gently reaches a servo towards him, and unfurling the long claws Starscream sees a fluctuating glowing orb held in the servo.

/This is the very essence of leadership for our people. It was created from my very essence at my final death, allowing our people to remain united around a beacon of light and hope. It was never meant to return to me again, the Winglord challenges securing that when one passed away another would rise. I need you to return it to Thundercracker when you return to your frame./ Solaris tells him, allowing the orb to come into contact with the smaller seeker and watches as the orb is absorbed into the young god borne.

Unable to remain standing Starscream collapses as the essence fuses with his frame and enables him to sense what every Winglord has sensed. All his people, all the pulsing sparks. It is a heady sensation to be one and all at the same time. Reaching out he senses the state of every one of his people and feels pain when he senses the pain and suffering filling most of his people. It fills him with the urgency to change things, to heal the hurt done to them all and return the true Winglord to his right state of mind and free the seekers of the taint of Megatrons manipulation.

Coming out of the haze of power he slowly rises from the ground and turns towards The Sky Above, determination and a new sense of purpose filling his whole frame.

/How do I return?/ he asks, voice serious. His wings vibrates in distress with flashes of sparks sapping over the wide expanses like lightning, showing the seekers inner turmoil and anger at the transgressions committed against his people. It is all so much clearer to him now, until his death he had only thought about saving the autobots from the threat the seekers caused in Megatrons servos. Now his focus is turned on the fate of his true people if he fails.

/Your frame remains held in limbo in the mortal world, waiting for the moment I send you back through the portal. The only thing you need to do when I allow you to return is to touch it. While your spark settles inside your frame I am going to heal it and replenish its energy. You are going to need it. Your return will not be easy. Thundercracker will try and kill you again the moment you return to life./ The Sky Above explains with an unreadable look in his black optics.

/That is why, when I return you to life Starscream, I am going to exploit the only weakness Thundercracker possess at the moment. Right now he is pure primal coding with only the most basic urges controlling him, among them the need to create life. He won´t be able to resist you when your Heat, with just a little nudge from me, flares. It is going to placate him and make him less dangerous to you while allowing you into close proximity. I need access to his sparkchamber to restore his coding and affecting him with his Rut will make him vulnerable enough for me to act./ the god continues to explain, watching Starscream closely for his reaction.

Once again the memory of Thundercracker on top of him, those mad white optics shining down at him before he is killed fills Starscream, and a full frame shudder travels from wing tip to wing tip and down into his thrusters which soundly spits flames for a moment. It is clear that Starscream don’t like the prospect of allowing Thundercracker that close to him in the state the blue seeker is in at the moment.

/Do not fear the close contact Starscream. If you allow Thundercracker to do as the rut demands of him, the only ones he is going to be a danger to will be those who might try to interfere. He will be protecting and defending you viciously against anyone trying to take you away from him. Just allow him to sate your Heat and everything is going to be fine./ The Sky Above sooths.

Even with the reassurance, Starscream don’t like the fact that he is going to let Thundercracker that close and make himself vulnerable to the insane blue seeker. But he accepts that there might be no other way to prevent the blue seeker from outright killing him again the instant he returns to life, and grudgingly he nods in understanding.

/You will not be alone in this Starscream, I will be present there to support you and do what is needed to restore everything to its right path./ the god adds with a smile before gesturing to the sky. /I am sure you want to see your carrier one last time before you are sent back?/

Nodding, Starscream looks at Solaris one last time, bowing before the magnificent seeker feeling honored to have had the chance to meet the brood carrier.

/I will be following your development Starscream./ Solaris says with a blinding smile.

Then The Sky Above takes to the sky and Starscream follows a moment later. With one last glance down at the clearing he transforms and follows the god as they return to Starcatcher and the more populated area of the afterlife.

Once again silence reign during their flight, but Starscream doesn’t mind. He has so much occupying his mind that the orn it takes for them to return passes without his notice.

Landing in Starcatcher´s clearing Starscream is shaken from his thoughts when his carrier hugs him close in greeting, fussing over him.

Melting into the embrace of the red and blue seeker, Starscream allows Starcatcher to nuzzle him. No matter how happy he is to get a chance to return to life and to Thundercracker and Skywarp he is going to miss the presence of his carrier. Death isn’t bad, and he could be tempted to stay dead if not for the fate of his people looking so grim.

/Carrier…/ He interrupt Starcatcher, knowing that he can´t stall it much longer.

Hugging the red and blue seeker close, he explains the need for him to return, and to his surprise Starcatcher doesn’t even seem unnerved by the fact that Starscream is a god borne. His carrier knew, he realizes.

A few cycles later The Sky Above arrives at the clearing and Starscream says his last goodbye to Starcatcher. He knows he is going to see his carrier again some orn and the thought is soothing.

/Are you ready Starscream?/ The Sky Above asks.

/Yes./ the tricolored seeker answers with a nod.

/Then let´s not wait any longer. Follow me./ the god answers.

Unfurling from Starcatcher´s embrace Starscream gently places a small kiss on the carrier´s cheek before following the god.

/I will return again one orn./ the tricolored seeker affectionately whispers to the red and blue seeker before leaving.

/I will be waiting./ Starcatcher responds with a sad smile gracing his lips.

Following The Sky Above to the area with the neon green portal, Starscream hesitates slightly in front of the fluctuating structure.

With a deep vent he steels himself before he takes the last step and touches the swirling energies. Feeling the pulling in his frame he tries to relax as he is engulfed and blinded by light. Then every sensation leaves him as he is sucked into the fluctuating energy and leaves the afterlife and the celestial image of his frame behind.

Unknown time later he staggers out of the portal and into the ethereal plane.

Confused he looks around.

Everything is grey or black, and he is unable to see beyond the veil of death. No matter which direction he walks the colors doesn’t clear to show him the path to his frame, instead it feels like they closes more firmly around him, not allowing him to see into the world of the living.

Almost on the verge of screaming in frustration he turns around in a 360 degree arch and his optics lands on the portal and the god emerging.

/Allow me to clear your vision./ The Sky Above says calmly, waving a servo in the air.

Slowly the grey and black fades and his surroundings becomes the mortal world held in limbo and he is finally able to see his frame with Thundercracker lingering frozen above.

Moving towards his frame, everything around him is blurry until he suddenly is there, a mere step away from it. All he has to do is reach out and reconnect with it to return to life and suddenly he feels uncertain.

Averting his gaze from his frame and looking at Thundercracker instead, fond feelings overtakes him and without thinking he reaches for the blue seeker, aiming to touch the blue seekers cheek. But his ghostly servo just passes through and he retracts it with a jerk.

A single tear travels his cheek as he shakily reaches his servo forward again; careful to not let it pass through this time, and his ghostly claws gently follows Thundercrackers jawline. The lone tear is slowly followed by another and then another until a steady stream slowly is traveling down the ghostly seekers cheeks and drips into nothingness when they leave his misty frame.

Feeling how the feelings inside him swells and becomes almost all consuming Starscream doesn’t think when he takes that step closer to Thundercracker and his lips gently ghosts over Thundercrackers in a gentle kiss against the blue seekers slightly parted lips.

/I´m coming back to you./ the tricolored seeker gently whispers before he kneels and touches his servo to his dead frame.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are coming to an end, but once again the chapter threatens to be extremely large and i still work with ending the story nicely, so while i complete the last possibly 3-4k words i give you this little part. Seems my notes work perfectly, but i need time to wrap my mind around the ending. So until i have it all fitted into the story, here you go chapter 35.:) I know the break in the end is rather anti-climatic, but at least it isnt an evil cliffy like other times. It is the most perfect spot to break the chapter, since what comes after keeps leading on to another and another.
> 
> Enjoy.

Starscreams ghostly image fades into nothing in the ethereal plane just as his spark settles inside his frame in the mortal world, and not wasting any time The Sky Above begins the process of healing the repossessed frame. With Starscream inside his frame once again, time once more begins to move in the mortal world and movement returns.

The effect of Starscreams return to life causes his frame to be engulfed by a blinding light and it compels Thundercracker to warily take several steps away from the previously dead frame.

When the light a breem later subsides the once greyed frame has attained its full coloration and the spark pulses strongly inside the healthy frame of the tricolored seeker.

Crouching, growling lowly Thundercracker slowly moves towards Starscream as the revived seeker slowly regains his consciousness.

Then Starscream jolts into a state of full awareness with a pained gasp when the first painful convulsion happens in his frame, signaling the surfacing of his heat. Whimpering he curls in on himself, clutching his midsection as more and more convulsions rattles his frame and the pain swamps his whole mind.

However no matter how consumed he is by the pain, his audios don’t miss the distinct sound of a spike cover releasing. Turning his helm towards the sound he watches as Thundercrackers spike extends and he is unable to stifle the moan at the sight of the slowly erecting member beginning to stand proudly out from between the dominants legs. The blue seeker has stopped his advance a dozen feet away and is still scenting deeply, falling victim to the alluring scent of Starscreams heat.

A new painful convulsion diverts Starscreams attention briefly and when he is able to see clearly again Thundercracker is hovering just above him. The sudden closeness to the blue seeker with the white optics hovering above him fills Starscream with a feeling of déjà vu and he can’t stop his reaction when strong feelings momentarily drown out the need and urge awoken in his frame.

Caught up in memorized fear he begins to scurry back and away from the dominant using his palms and thrusters to get the leverage to move. When free of the blue seeker’s hovering presence he turns onto servos and knees and tries to get away as fast as the pain and convulsions in his frame allows him.

He doesn’t make it far before Thundercracker is above him again, draping his larger frame on top of the tricolored seeker with a rumbling purr, pressing Starscream firmly down into the ground and makes it harder for the submissive to move.

Not giving up, still caught up in irrational fear Starscream still fights to get free and get away from the danger the blue seeker represents.

Struggling beneath the dominant Starscream whimpers when Thundercracker, growling in warning, seizes him, the blue seeker harshly biting down on the back of his neck with the fangs sinking into the delicate circuitry, efficiently restraining him from any attempt on escaping what is to come.

Moaning helplessly at the stinging feeling of the fangs sinking into his neck, Starscream freezes completely in any movement and he feels how Thundercracker shifts against him. Restrained he is unable to fight against the movements of the dominant when Thundercracker forces the spike in between his legs to grind at his closed valve cover.

The stimulation made to his hastily heating cover clouds his mind in a swamping haze and rapidly the fear that had overtaken him bleeds from his frame, replaced with a burning need originating from within his core. Unable to fight against the urgent need rising inside him once again as well as the firm demanding thrusts from Thundercracker that causes the spike to grind against the valve cover and unleash almost all-consuming pleasure, Starscream gives in completely, his spark singing at Thundercrackers display of dominance.

With a full-frame shudder his cover releases and allows the gathered lubricants to run freely down his legs and onto the ground beneath him.

/Thundercracker./ He breaths shakily when his valve is forcefully penetrated even before the cover has retracted completely. Pleasure floods him at the feeling of the spike entering him, setting every sensor inside his valve alit. In a fluid move Thundercracker sheaths himself completely inside the submissive and the spike settles inside Starscream with the tip nudging against the gestation chamber at the very top of the valve. There it triggers a node only active during the submissive’s heat cycle and Starscream is rendered completely complaisant and unable to fight against the intrusion when his mind drowns in a haze of pure and unadulterated need. Instincts completely taking over, Starscream begins to move in sheer abandon, urging the mating on and following Thundercrackers movements when the dominant begins to move inside him.

Sensing Starscreams complacency Thundercracker releases his hold on the neck and allows the submissive to move freely without any risk of damages. Then the dominant sets a brutal pace. With his hips clanking and grating mercilessly against Starscreams aft with every harsh thrust, Thundercracker snarls, growls and grunts with every shallow thrust he does into the wet and welcoming valve encasing his spike while the rest of his frame remains rather unmoving in the mating, still draped on top of Starscream.

The shallow but firm thrusts into his valve slowly drives Starscream crazy, the friction between their frames as Thundercracker thrusts in and out of his valve leaves maddening prickling and tingling sensations all over his frame and his charge steadily grows stronger and stronger without any outlet.

Then Thundercracker goes rigid above him, straightening suddenly and roars fiercely out in the first of many overloads while sharp claws in pure reflex racks down Starscreams frame creating small scratches down the perfect finish as scalding hot transfluids is released directly into the submissive’s gestation chamber.

Left hanging without any stimulation while Thundercracker staggers in overload and the spike releases its content into the madly rippling valve Starscream whines in distress. The spike gently moves inside him as Thundercracker forces every drop into the gestation chamber, but it isn’t enough to stimulate Starscream like he desperately need for his overload to happen. Desperation taking over he clumsily rolls onto his back, yelping when the stinging pain in his wings lowers his charge instead of increasing it, and to his displeasure the spike dislodges by his movement. A low growl is released from the blue seeker, but before Thundercracker can do anything Starscream is desperately grinding his pelvic plating up against him and drawing the much needed pleasurable friction between them.

The sensation of the transfluids filling his gestation chamber is soothing and eases the worst of his urgent needs awoken, but the overload he can feel approach in his frame and which is held just out of his reach is enough to urge him on and in his desperate need for release Starscream forgets everything else than the need for Thundercracker to take him. 

When Thundercracker moves again, Starscream feels how the air is forced out of him when the dominant lowers his whole weight on top of him at their new position. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the sudden weight he is unprepared for when Thundercracker snaps his hips forward and the spike finally, finally enters his valve again, completely sheathed inside him with one harsh thrust. Arching his back at the flood of intense pleasure when every sensor in his valve is stimulated once again, Starscream throws his helm back in a scream and bares his neck to the dominant. Scenting the energon still seeping from the small puncture wounds done by the fangs earlier Thundercracker latches onto the sensitive bared areas and Starscream shrieks in pleasure, trashing at the increase in intense feelings invading his frame at the feeling of Thundercrackers glossa lapping up the energon, gently snaking in between cables and wires and setting off sensor node after sensor node in the neck.

The onslaught of pleasure from both his valve and neck is enough to spiral Starscream higher and higher in his arousal and the charge grows almost painful in his frame until the proverbial bubble explodes and he is thrown helm first into a spark shattering overload rendering him of any lingering string of coherence. Clinging painfully to the blue frame that moves above him he is barely conscious while Thundercracker finishes sating his heat.

Three overloads later the newspark has taken and Thundercracker is shaken by his last overload with the rut leaving him and he is extremely vulnerable as his sensors and awareness is consumed by the last charge of energy filling his frame.

Caught up in a haze of pure satisfaction, the feeling of completion filling his frame, Starscream self is unaware of his surroundings and before he manages to react to the other presence suddenly present in his mind he feels how his own awareness is forced into the back of his processor. He is left incapacitated and can only watch as his frame without his consent moves, rolling with the still dazed Thundercracker and succeeds in reversing their positions with the dominant beneath the smaller seeker’s frame.

Taken by surprise, Thundercracker rapidly regains his processor and his beautiful facial features contort into an ugly snarl as he slashes at the smaller frame holding him down.

In their mating Starscream had forgotten all about the god’s presence and he is now reminded as he senses Thundercrackers claws connecting with his frame and scratching at him, but without causing any true harm. Claws that should have been able to dig deep into him only leave faint marks in his paint and the frame that should have been more than capable in throwing Starscreams smaller one off fights to do just that.

The invasion of his frame as the god possesses him should have scared him, but Starscream can only watch in awe from the back of his own processor as the god protects his frame while subduing Thundercracker. Then a faint sense of unease fills him when he watches as the god without touching forces Thundercrackers chestplates to part. Moments later he can only stare as the dominants spark is laid completely bare before him, shining weakly inside the sparkchamber.

Caught up in the sight of the shining orb that is Thundercrackers life force Starscream doesn’t realize what is happening before the god lowers his frame towards Thundercracker and his own bared spark connects with Thundercrackers.

Gasping at the sensation of their sparks touching, he feels how tendrils from Thundercrackers spark are trying to grasp into his own in futility.

::You are not able to bond yet.:: The Sky Above informs, sensing the frustration filling Starscream at having their sparks touching without being able to complete the merge.

Curious, his attention turns towards what the god is doing and he watches as The Sky Above carefully weaves the missing strings of coding into the frayed ends of Thundercrackers remaining coding laid bare at the exposure of the spark. He doesn’t know how he is able to see the silvery strings as the ruined coding slowly is restored, deciding that he don’t really care about that mystery as long as Thundercracker is going to return to him.

The sight before him is almost like watching Ratchet perform repairs on delicate circuitry almost invisible to the optic.

Laughter fills his processor from the god.

::Accurate visual.:: The god adds.

::It is delicate work to be done if I am to preserve his personality. If I just overwrote him with an intact set of seeker coding he would not be the Thundercracker you know. His experiences has been what has shaped him into what he was and is going to be again.:: The god explains.

Cycles pass as the god works and Starscream watches in comfort as the restored coding slowly takes effect in the blue seeker. The first change is that Thundercracker stops trashing and just lays there, prone and unmoving. The next thing happening to the blue seeker is the return of color to his optics. The white color of madness fades and allows for the well-known orange coloration to take its place. When the colors have returned to the optics, sentience slowly fills them and now and then they offline only to online moments later.

When the god proclaims the work done Starscream looks down into optics clearly recognizing him.

And when Thundercracker reaches a trembling servo towards him, Starscream is crying shamelessly inside his mind, even as his frame don’t show the wash of feelings warring inside him at the fact that Thundercracker, HIS Thundercracker as he has come to know him has returned.

The touch, as the servo gently cradles his left cheek and the following weak whisper has his spark almost breaking under the force of feelings.

/Starscream?/ Thundercracker asks in a weak unsure voice, staring up in the tricolored seeker’s black optics with a slight frown. A claw gently nuzzles the bottom edge of an optic that used to be sparkling with a playful yellow color.

Thundercrackers frown deepens when Starscream doesn’t react at all to his vocalization and the unerringly changed optics has him unnerved. There is no sign of emotion coming from the seeker above him, only the black optics looking uncaring down at him.

Then the unemotional facial features cracks and Starscreams lips contort into a devious smirk.

/No./ is the simple answer given, Starscreams voice strangely twisted.

Moments later Thundercracker feels the painful backslash when his connections to Skywarp are severed and he screams, both from pain and fear.

With wide optics he stares up into the still uncaring black optics and the lips still showing that devious smirk, and all he wants is to tear away at the face hovering just above him. But the haze of pain slowly drowns out any thought in his processor and he is left suffering in a sea of hurt and loss.

Skywarp…

Their seekerlings…

All their creations…

He has failed, utterly failed…

He can feel how his spark pulses franticly, trying to reach for the one that has been a part of him for so long. But he is unable to do so.

There is only a hollow spot left inside him where his mate should have lingered.

His optics offlines and they are so heavy to online again…

Too heavy…

And he no longer has the energy.

He can feel how he slowly fades, his spark still searching for that special spark that he can’t live without.

Oh well. He is going to meet Skywarp again soon in the afterlife. Spark flaring dangerously in its destabilized state he knows that there is only a few nano kliks before he is gone.

Skywarp…

I’m coming…

Then there is a sudden jolt of energy, and his optics shots wide open in shock…

His spark is stabilizing and a moment of panic flares inside it.

Skywarp.

No. No. No. NO!

He wants to die to reunite with his mate!

Hurled into a bright white Meta world he is greeted with the sight of Starscream and a hovering translucent presence.

Rage overtakes him and in all his hurt he attacks the tricolored seeker.

Starscream just as shocked as Thundercracker rears back and tries to defend himself from the onslaught of sheer hate coming from the blue seeker in their sparkmerge.

::Thundercracker.:: He pleads, this new connection to the blue seeker foreign to him, and he is unable to understand how the flood of emotions coming from Thundercracker leaves him almost withering in great pain.

::You killed him! Y-You killed him. How could you kill him…how…could…you…:: Thundercrackers sorrow filled voice travels, his voice losing its strength with every word leaving him, turning the last ones into barely heard whispers. Feeling how the emotional backslash slowly fades, he is left numb, the sorrow drowning out all other feelings inside him.

::Skywarp…:: the blue seeker croaks as he curls in on himself and begins to cry shamelessly, trying to lock out the new connection that is slowly forming with Starscream.

::I just want to die.:: Thundercrackers whispering voice echoes in the sparkmerge.

Starscream can just watch in horror as Thundercracker falls apart in front of him, and in his horror he realizes what the god has done.

Going to his knees, he is on the verge of breaking just like Thundercracker when he understands.

::Their bonds. You broke them.:: He whispers.

::Yes. He needs to be unbound for you to form the triade with him.:: The Sky Above answers, not in the meta world, but inside Starscreams own mind, the words not for Thundercracker to hear.

::But Skywarp?:: Starscream asks, his voice filled with pain. Images of Skywarps trembling frame as he lays in the little cell in the large room inside the decepticon base flickers in his memory and before him he watches the frame slowly grey out, the spark extinguishing. He can imagine the seekerling call out to its carrier when its bond to Skywarp is broken at the carrier’s death.

::Is not dead yet.:: Sounds the calm and reassuring words from the god.

::But-:: the tricolored seeker stutters. He remembers the knowledge he has gained from Solaris and knows that the breaking of a bond as deep as a sparkbond extinguishes both sparks mere kliks after the breaking. They simply can’t exist without the other part that completes them after the deep connection between them has been formed.

::I’m your god Starscream. My powers are infinitesimal. Reviving you and restoring Thundercracker is already more direct interference in the life of my creations than I ever has done, of course I am able to keep your third alive until you reaches him. I haven’t given you your life again to just throw away another.:: The Sky Above answers the unfinished question of doubt.

::Now I need you to release the Winglord essence bestowed upon you by Solaris. It is time for Thundercracker to regain his position, and it will allow him to feel that Skywarp still remains among the living. Restore his hope if you will young god borne.:: the god continues, voice pleased and tinted with a slight of…humor?

Mulling absentmindedly over the god’s words, Starscream reaches a part of his awareness into that spot inside him that is the essence, and it flows willingly around his reaching presence, bits of his people’s minds opening to him even at the faintest touch of awareness.

Meanwhile Thundercracker fights against the deepening of their bond and tries to ignore the one way conversation Starscream has, unaware of the words spoken by the god. All he hears is the few pained words from the tricolored seeker.

With trembling wings he uncurls slightly and watches Starscream as the other seeker remains rather absent in their connection, the tricolored seeker on his knees with his helm hanging dejectedly and supporting his upper frame heavily with his servos on the ground.

Thundercracker has filled their Meta world so much with his own troubled feelings and is unable to sense anything from Starscream, having practically drowned out the connection to the other in all his sorrow. Now he reaches a little tentacle of awareness into their connection, tentatively prodding at Starscreams.

The wash of feelings, the hurt, sorrow and pain he senses from Starscream, which mirrors those of his own, stalls his venting and oh so slowly he prods deeper, trying to sense more of Starscreams spark and the state of the other seeker.

Starscream sensing his fragile prodding opens freely to the blue seeker, laying everything he is completely bare and when he feels the prodding deepening he releases the essence with a sigh, allowing it to settle inside Thundercracker.

A surging overload happens to them mere kliks later completing their bonding and the bright white Meta world collapses in a thousand colors.

Regaining his consciousness Starscream looks around confused before he realizes that they are in their physical frames once again.

Struggling to move, he is aware of the trickling sensations now and then touching his still bared spark, and when he withdraws from the still unconscious Thundercracker small tendrils from the dominants spark reaches out, not wanting to break their connection yet.

A gentle smile forms on his lips.

Thundercracker wants him.

Closing his chestplates, he kneels and gently closes Thundercrackers and touches his palm to the thrumming rumble coming from within the blue seeker.

He is tempted to lie down beside his mate and curl into him.

Then his processor stalls for several kliks.

Mate.

And then everything suddenly spins around him at the magnitude of what has happened during the last few cycles.

Optics widening he clutches his chest.

He is sparked. He is going to have Thundercrackers creation.

Not only that, they are now sparkmates too.

Then panic enters his mind.

/SKYWARP!/ He yells in distress, franticly trying to wake Thundercracker.

When nothing he does is able to rouse the blue seeker the panic just grows and grows and he is left trembling, his wings clattering on his back.

They need to get to Skywarp. They need to. They have to.

Thoughts of the black and purple seeker dying from them are threatening to overheat his frame from the sheer wash of emotions filling him.

Slowly stirring awake, sensing the utter distress from the spark newly bonded to him, Thundercracker regains his consciousness. It takes a few more kliks before his awareness clicks in and his memories returns, displaying the harsh facts. The Winglord essence is whispering to him and his mind feels lighter. Throwing his whole awareness into the essence he searches and elation fills him when he is able to confirm the only reason for why he succumbed to the bond, Skywarp. The black and purple seeker’s essence pulses weakly, lingering on the edge of dying. He don’t know how it is possible, doesn’t really care. His mate is alive, that is all that matters.

Narrowing his optics he stares at the submissive kneeling beside him, about to make a harsh retort for all the hurt that the seeker has done to him and Skywarp.

But before he even manages to vocalize anything, Starscream launches at him and curls into a ball in his lap, stricken with fear and worry.

Optics widening slightly in surprise he can’t stop himself from caressing the trembling white wings and soon soothing trills and coos follows from his vocalizer instead of the hurting words he had intended.

Slowly the trembling eases and Starscream just lays there for several moments, the caresses and the feeling of the dominants frame this close reassuring.

/Skywarp, where is he?/ Thundercracker then asks demandingly, his voice taking on a slight of the harshness he had intended before.

Chirring in distress Starscream straightens abruptly from his position in Thundercrackers lap and his wide optics widens even further as he looks at the blue seeker.

It is then the dominant realizes that the common yellow color in the tricolored seeker’s optics has returned.

/We need to get to him. Need to bond, need to keep him from dying./ Starscream blabbers in one go, the reawakened fear controlling him completely at the mentioning of Skywarps designation, leaving him an emotional mess.

Growling Thundercracker snatches a servo around Starscreams neck and drags the submissives face almost flush against his own, uncaring of the sounds of pain leaving Starscreams vocalizer at the motion.

/Where is he?/ the blue seeker hisses menacingly.

/Still captured./ the submissive whimpers.

/Where?/ Thundercracker growls lowly, tightening his grip around Starscreams neck.

/Grounder base./ Starscream moans weakly after several moments, the grip on his neck stopping most of the flow of energon in his lines from reaching his processor.

Grunting in annoyance Thundercracker keeps staring into Starscreams wide and frightened optics, watching as the color slowly dulls. Something in the back of his processor wildly protests his harsh treatment of the submissive, protective coding rising to placate his aggression towards the tricolored seeker and he just grows more irritated at the interference. His grip on the submissives neck grows and he feels how he slowly gets aroused at the sight of the dimming yellow optics and the fact that Starscream doesn’t fighting the least against the restricting hold which is slowly sending him into blessed unconsciousness.

First when the yellow optics is almost completely grey and the venting turns shallow does Thundercracker realize what is happening. Shaken he stares at Starscream as the submissive shows him complete and absolute submission.

The servo around Starscreams neck begins to tremble at the sight of the trust so visible in the dangerously dimmed optics. Starscreams belief that Thundercracker won’t kill him won’t hurt him unnecessarily. The fear that had taken over the submissive is replaced with an eerily calm and serenity.

With a snarl he releases his hold on the tricolored seeker, disgusted at the lust rising inside him at the sight of Starscream succumbing to him. Now is not the right time for that.

Gasping deeply, forcing cooling air into his feverishly heated systems as his hazy processor clears with the renewed flow of energon; Starscream slowly composes himself, looking up at the blue seeker from where he lays sprawled on the ground.

It is the first time he is able to see Thundercracker clearly without the fear ruling him and he stares in shock at the beautifully sparkling yellow optics coolly staring down at him.

/Get up!/ the dominant orders, disdain filling his voice.

Scrambling to obey, Starscream shakily rises to his thrusters.

For a moment weakened by the placating coding Thundercracker reaches a servo to gently cup Starscreams left cheek, his spark pulsing with emotions. Then he withdraws with another snarl, angry at his own show of weakness when he needs all his attention on getting to Skywarp.

Turning his back to Starscream he straightens and steps away from the other seeker before igniting his thrusters and shooting into the air. Then with a deafening sonic boom he blasts away, knowing that Starscream is going to follow him.

Barrel rolling as he flies, Thundercrackers sensors are primed on his surroundings and his awareness is sharper than it has been for a very long time. The mind controller is momentarily offline due to the god’s interference but if they don’t reach Skywarp before it onlines again troubles are going to rise.

Then as Starscream flies to support his left flank a presence pings him on his right, flying a few hundred dozen feet away and clearly trying to shield its presence from them.

Dead set on reaching his lost mate, Thundercracker is not going to let anything interfere in his goal, and the new presence pings him as a clear threat. Deviating, rolling sharply to his right he sets his path straight for the signature pinging.

Laserbeak doesn’t stand a chance before a killing laser shot is released from the dominant seeker and the spy explodes into thousands of small pieces when the potent energy connects with the fuel in its systems.

The death of his symbiote shakes Soundwave, and alerts the decepticons to the approaching danger.

They already know that something is wrong. The revival of the dead seeker filling even the battle hardened warriors with imagined nightmares. No one resurrects from death when their frame has been as grey as Starscreams, yet still they had watched the frame come alive again.

And now they had two uncontrolled and definitely pissed off seekers en route.

Laserbeaks death, which should have been impossible since the blue seeker by the mind controller had been preprogrammed to not harm any decepticon troops, predicts the fate that will befall anyone in the seekers’ path.

It is all a question about who the troops fear the most, their leader or a pair of murderous seekers.

While the decepticons are fleeing the area around their base, leaving it completely open for the incoming seekers, Thundercracker pushes his engine to its limit, the need to reunite with his black and purple mate urging him on.

Beside him Starscream remains silent, keeping up with his dominant, sensing the feelings warring inside Thundercracker through their bond.

Tentatively pushing his own feelings through the bond, he prods Thundercrackers mood and sags slightly in his flight when he senses that the feelings are being welcomed.

He feels guilty and responsible for the breaking of their bonds, even if The Sky Above had done it out of pure necessity for their future together.

Suddenly feeling how his spark is being enveloped in soothing caring feelings originating from Thundercracker, he realizes that he had projected his feelings and that the blue seeker by opening their bond wider is flooding him with a blanket of his deepest feelings.

::I hurt, but it is not your fault Starscream.:: Thundercracker then suddenly communicates through their bond, and they are both so shocked that they dip more than a mile before regaining the control of their flight.

::Sky Above.:: the blue seeker whispers in awe.

::Yes.:: Starscream laughs.

Moments later the decepticon base comes into their vision and every gentle feeling leaves Thundercracker as the blue seeker closes their bond tight. It is something he has rarely done in his connection to Skywarp, but he needs all his attention, and Starscreams presence in the bond instead of Skywarp is greatly distracting.

His spark is still screaming for Skywarps, Starscreams presence not filling the empty void where Skywarp had lingered.

/Don’t shoot the structures./ Starscream yells out loud, sensing that Thundercracker is about to engage his lasers as well as his sonics to level the structures making up the decepticon base.

/Our seekers are inside it, and I don’t know precisely where./ The tricolored seeker elaborates.

/Starscream, I sense them and know precisely where they are. Don’t worry. We won’t hurt them./ Thundercracker answers in a stern tone before he unleashes his attack and blows up parts of the buildings. Earth’s materials aren’t as resistant as Cybertron’s and they crumble easily under the onslaught of laser fire.

Flying through the billowing smoke from the burning structures both seekers lands at the untouched buildings.

Sensing that Skywarp isn’t far away Thundercrackers spark sings and the dominant charges helmlessly into the building in front of him, following Skywarps pinging signature.

Carefully watching his surroundings, Starscream folds his wings close to his frame and follows through the opening Thundercracker has created in the side of the building.

Running down corridor after corridor he follows Thundercrackers trail of destruction.

A sense of frustration bleeds into him from the blue seeker, and when he gets Thundercracker in vision he understands why.

They are where Skywarps signature pings, but the room is empty and doesn’t look like what Starscream remembers from his own visit.

A faint sound draws their attention and Thundercracker reacts before Starscream when the scent of grounders wafts into the room, before a decepticon in vehicle mode blasts down the corridor outside the room where the two seekers stands moments later.

Taking up pursuit the blue seeker onlines his lasers and is ready to kill.

The decepticon skillfully avoids the shots, his alt mode giving him the needed speed to dodge the deadly beams.

Then they are outside and the advantage the grounder had inside the narrow corridor shifts to Thundercrackers out in the open, the blue seeker launching into the air, his thrusters igniting and he falls upon his helpless prey.

Crying out in pain, the car trembles as Thundercracker digs his claws deeply into its frame.

/Don’t!/ Starscream yells, having followed predator and prey outside the building.

/We need it. I can talk with it./ the tricolored seeker pleads, optics trained on the rivulets of energon already bleeding from the decepticon.

Snarling Thundercracker looks up and his yellow optics are glinting with rage and the urge to kill.

/Then talk!/ he roars, throwing the grounder towards Starscream.

Crouching low at where the decepticon has landed on the ground not far from him, Starscream gently seals an open energon line as closed as he can, buying him more time to get their seekers’ location out of the grounder.

“Answer me honestly and you might get out of this alive. Where are you keeping our seekers?!” Starscream asks, growling slightly, his own nerves fraying as more time passes.

Soon they know everything they need to get to their seekers down in the basement under the buildings. It all makes sense to Starscream, what better place to keep fliers than firmly sealed away from their sky. Even if some had regained any sort of energy they would not just have been able to flee by tearing down walls.

While Starscream runs into the building again, Thundercracker takes out his anger on the decepticon. Starscream might be one to show mercy but the Winglord definitely aren’t.

Grunting at the sight of the growing pool of energon beneath the grey corpse, Thundercracker turns away and follows after Starscream.

Following the directions provided by the grounder he easily finds the entrance to the basement, the door open wide, claw marks marring the finish where it has been torn from its frame.

Purring at the sight, understanding that Starscream rarely will be showing the more feral side of himself, the dominant acknowledges the strength of his recently bonded submissive.

The sight that greets him when he passes through the entrance however has the Winglord bristling with berserker rage. His wings are flaring aggressively on his back, raised as high on his back as the height in the room allows and his sonics hums to life, rattling the cells as he walks down the corridor separating the rows of cells on both sides of him.

The thick scent of his sick and dying kin fills his olfactory sensor.

Flexing his claws in the barely restrained rage overtaking him, he takes his time to look closely into every cell on his way to where he can see the outline of Starscreams wings, the tricolored seeker kneeling partly inside one of the cells.

Finally coming to the cell Starscream is kneeling halfway inside, Thundercracker can’t stop himself and he roars, the sound of his sonics intensifying and rattling the whole basement, threatening to bury them all with the force of the onslaught.

Then Starscream reaches up and jerks on a blue wing harshly, bringing Thundercracker to his knees, the servo holding the wing bleeding rivulets of energon from its slithered wrist.

/Control yourself!/ the tricolored seeker snarls, his fangs gleaming dangerously.

With that Starscream releases the wing and brings the wrist back to Skywarps lips, feeding much needed energy to the black and purple seeker’s grey frame.

Sensing Thundercrackers agitation through their bond, the dominant filled with so many warring emotions that the bond practically is open wide, Starscream tries to send calm to the blue seeker.

Then hesitating slightly, he opens his cockpit and withdraws the seekerling, the little one unresponsive and faded, but still not dead. However his priority is Skywarp, even if his newly onlined carrier coding screams for him to help it. But if Skywarp does die, no matter how much their god is saying he is keeping him alive, the seekerling might possibly die as well.

His attention turns to the dominant again as he throws his servo holding the little one into Thundercrackers face and he can only watch with a faint smile as any sign of aggression leaves the blue seeker when Thundercrackers shaking servos rises to take the offered seekerling.

/Care for your creation Thundercracker, while I take care of Skywarp for you./ the submissive coos, turning his full attention back on the practically dead seeker in front of him.

Skywarps completely grey frame and his dead optics is a horrible sight, but the faint pulsing of a spark, however weak it is, tells him all he needs to know. Their god truly is keeping Skywarp from leaving them.

He stares intensely as his own life fluids flows down Skywarps intakes and settles inside the tank, following instincts telling him that the frame needs energy to reactivate.

Slowly colors enter the previously grey frame as systems previously silent, begins to cycle up again and Starscreams spark begins to pulse with a combination of elation and eagerness.

When the frame begins to stir and the optics onlines, the tricolored seeker is taken by surprise at the black optics fixated on him, but then he realizes that of course it isn’t Skywarp that is coming back to them yet.

If Skywarp came back to them without a bond supporting and sustaining his spark it would just destabilize again and extinguish completely.

Parting his chest plates to bare his spark, he smiles at the sight of Skywarps parting as well.

Soon everything will be right again, and they will all be together.

When he connects their sparks he only faintly registers the shock reverberating through his bond with Thundercracker before he is consumed by the merge and enters the bright white Meta world.

The bonding doesn’t take much time, Skywarp is still not present there and it is only the god’s presence that manifests in the created Meta world.

::He will be okay when he wakes. Don’t worry.:: The Sky Above reassures, sensing the slight fear at Skywarps missing presence in the bonding. ::Just make sure to three-way bond to form the triade when he wakes and everything is going to be fine.:: the god says with a certain glint to his optics. Then the world once again collapses when Starscream is swept away in overload.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it is time for an update.:) This is a nightmare of a chapter, and here i talk both length and content. It is PACKED with action, so find a nice place to sit and keep your head steady cus things are happening! This is the last chapter before the epilogue, so this is the chapther most have been looking forward to. Is Megatron finally gonna get what he deserve? And if so, how?:) The ending of this chapter might seem a bit unfinished, but im going to seal this story firmly off in the epilogue, so dont worry. Not much more will happen after this chapter, no more drama, no more angst or horror. Just a nice rounding up, but the epilogue is still important to the story as a whole.:)

When Starscream regains his consciousness again it is to a tsunami of emotions filling his spark.

Sluggishly onlining his optics he stares up at Thundercracker. The blue seeker is hovering above him staring down at him with empty optics. Everything about the dominant gives off a sense of powerlessness and it takes a while before Starscreams processor catches up with what he has done.

Urgently scrambling to his thrusters, sensing the deep hurt from the dominant, he rises from the ground and seals his spark securely behind the chestplates again before he turns and faces the distraught dominant.

/Thundercracker…/ he whispers pleadingly, hoping to get the blue seeker to understand.

/You took him away from me again. Why?/ Thundercracker asks, and there is so much hurt and powerlessness in his voice.

/I-I didn’t-… I needed to-… It isn’t-…/ Starscream tries to explain, but every word seems to make the distance between them even greater.

::You can tell him.:: The god gently brushes his awareness before the godly presence completely leaves, his work done. All that needs to be done is up to the three seekers now.

/I’m not a normal seeker Thundercracker./ Starscream then blurts, hoping to stop the blue seeker from turning further away from him.

Thundercrackers optics narrows at the words and he turns his attention back on Starscream with a withering glare, stopping in the movements that had brought him almost outside the cell.

/I know Starscream. You are a curse I am bonded to for eternity./ Thundercracker coldly states, but even if the words are said in such a cold voice the optics are brimming with emotions and unshed tears.

/That is NOT what I meant!/ Starscream throws back trying to ignore the pain blooming in his spark at the hurtful words. /This-/ he continues, gesturing towards Skywarp as he fights against the tears pressing in his own optics /is only possible because of ME!/

/You are right. If it wasn’t for you, my bonds with Skywarp would never have been terminated. We wouldn’t be in this situation at all!/ Thundercracker roars in counter causing the ceiling to tremble violently and sending dust and debris raining down. In the blue seekers servos the seekerling utters a weak whimper at the dust raining down around it, draws Thundercrackers attention for a moment to shield it from further dust.

/Don’t be so sure about that Thundercracker! I’m not the one controlled by grounders!/ Starscream returns with a roar of his own, forgetting himself in the hurt taking root in his spark at Thundercrackers words.

Seeing the confusion in the blue seeker’s optics Starscream seals his mouth firmly shut.

Perfect.

What a way to breach that subject.

/What?/ Thundercracker whispers weakly, his spark suddenly feeling strangely empty while his wings droops to their lowest possible setting. The bond has flared wide open between the two arguing seekers with the rising emotions and there had only been truth in the last sentence Starscream spoke.

Taking a step towards the blue seeker and reaching open servos in an attempt to console, Starscreams movement is stopped at the sound of Skywarp rousing and he hesitates for a moment, torn between the urge to mend Thundercrackers hurt and reach out to Skywarp. Then making the decision he turns his attention onto the black and purple seeker, kneeling beside the slowly rebooting Skywarp.

Gently taking one of Skywarps servos in his own he turns his optics back onto Thundercracker.

/He isn’t lost to you Thundercracker./ He softly tells the frozen blue seeker, allowing the truth to fill their bond. /My presence within the both of you allows us to form a special three-way bond. Neither of your bonds with me are closed circuits. I’m sorry that I bonded to him before you could, but I needed to be the instigator of each bonding to allow us to form this kind of bond. I never intended to take him away from you./ he coos softly.

/How is that possible?/ Thundercracker asks warily.

Starscream turns his attention back to Skywarp again, sensing the black and purple seeker’s growing awareness as he slowly regains his consciousness.

/I told you Thundercracker. I’m not a normal seeker./ Starscream answers with a smile in his voice as he looks down into sluggishly onlining yellow optics. Tightening the grip on Skywarps servo Starscream finally gives in to the tears and allows them to flow freely at the sight of Skywarp coming back to them. All tension and fear bleeds from his frame at the sight of the yellow optics.

/Then what are you?!/ The Winglord asks confused.

Turning his attention back onto Thundercracker, playfully sparkling tear filled yellow optics meets reserved slightly narrowed optics and Starscreams smile grows. With his free servo he gently removes the falling tears staining his cheeks before he answers the question.

/I’m a ‘god born’. I’m more a creation of our god than anything else. Don’t ask me how it happened, I don’t know it all myself./ is his response and with the words he deflects the questions he know Thundercracker will be asking.

Then his bond with Skywarp flares wide open when the black and purple seeker wakes completely. Sensing the confusion coming from the other submissive, he tries to send calm, but instead of calming, the black and purple seeker begins to trash and scream. The void that was Thundercracker is all-consuming inside his spark, and the new bond to Starscream does nothing to ease the fear and horror at the emptiness.

/Skywarp, relax, calm down. He isn’t dead./ Starscream tries to console, but the black and purple seeker is too far gone in his panic at the missing bond with Thundercracker to listen.

/Thundercracker! Get over here will you. Let him see you for frag sake. You need to bond with him anyway to make the three-way bonding possible./ Starscream calls to the Winglord.

Only hesitating for a moment, hope blooming in his spark, Thundercracker kneels down in a corner and gently places the seekerling there safely. Life has returned to the little being through the filtrated fuel offered by its creator, and slowly the nanites in the fuel is cleansing the impurities from its lite frame, bringing back healthy colors and movements. Whimpering when the warm presence of its creator withdraws, it curls in on itself and soon it is in recharge, leaving the mature seekers to sort out their problems.

The Winglords close presence when he kneels down beside Skywarp has immediate effect and the black and purple seeker stiffens completely, optics wide while sobs still leaves his vocalizer. Then a scream fills the basement and Skywarp throws himself at Thundercracker, clinging desperately to the blue seeker.

/You’re gone, but not gone. How? I can’t feel you. Need you, Thunder, please… don’t want to feel this alone./ the black and purple seeker sobs into the blue seeker’s warm plating.

A gentle caress to his wings has him turning his helm and he looks into Starscreams caring optics.

/You will never be alone Skywarp./ Starscream sooths, sending gentle pings through their bond and ignores the fact that he isn’t the one Skywarp wants in the bond right now. /Right now you got me to lean on. If you allow Thundercracker some movement he will soon join me to support you./ Starscream adds with a sparkling laughter at the sight of the two entwined seekers. There is no way Thundercracker will be able to part his chestplates at their current predicament.

Watching Skywarp fight to untangle himself from Thundercracker as fast as possible, Starscream can’t help laughing again. He can feel the eagerness to join coming from the black and purple seeker and sends his own encouragement.

Then there is another bright light filling the cell together with Skywarps still open chestplates and bare spark. An intense flash of light follows and he knows the two seekers are bonding. Shielding his optics from the bright light he waits patiently.

As he waits for the two seekers to complete their bonding another tsunami of feelings swamps him coming from both of his sparkmates. He is bombarded with love, care, contentment, joy, relief and so much more. He almost drowns in all the feelings transmitted during their bonding and he feels a twinge of pain in his spark at the knowledge that he isn’t included yet.

Twin screams of pleasure signals the bond peaking and before him the light slowly fades. When he lowers his shielding servo both seekers are lying lifeless, with Thundercracker leaning heavily on the smaller Skywarp.

With a small smile he frees Skywarp of the heavy burden, gently rolling Thundercracker onto his side and of off his mate.

Then he offlines his optics and reaches into the bonds he has with the two, following the strings connecting him to them and follows the faint strings he senses now connects his two sparkmates with each other.

Satisfied when he senses the completeness and the now closed circuit he smiles again. Now he can initiate the three-way bonding that will fuse them even closer together without killing any of them.

A regular spark bonding and/or spark merge accumulates energies between the two connected sparks which slowly builds up until it fluctuates and simply explodes in overload when neither spark nor frame can handle the rising charge anymore. The charge originating from the overload sets their sparks singing with energy while every sensor in their frames are lit with the charge coursing through their whole being and that is what creates the pleasure the seekers feels when the overload happens.

Now, a three-way bonding ancient style is a lot more powerful and dangerous, especially when we have two regular seekers with sparks actually not fit to handle the massive energy flow and take Starscream into the equation. Just like the brood carrier, Starscreams spark is that more powerful from being a ‘god borne’, of course his spark is far from as powerful as Solaris’, still it is a lot more powerful than both Thundercracker and Skywarps’ together. The energy created from the tricolored seeker’s spark is enough to extinguish both of the others’ during a three-way bonding if he doesn’t take precautions to prevent it. In a regular merge/bonding the excess energy accumulated between the two sparks is released to the surroundings when the overload happens. During a three-way bonding however the accumulated energy rotates between the three sparks as it grows in charge and is unable to be released to the surroundings through an overload.

The three-way bonding doesn’t need for Thundercracker and Skywarp to be bonded, but for the two seekers to survive it they need the bond to be a closed circuit, or the charge created by Starscreams spark will settle inside both of their sparks without any outlet, extinguishing them when the energy simply become too much for their sparks to handle.

This is also the reason for why Starscream won’t be able to trinebond. He would possibly kill his trinemates by bonding to them in a trinebond. Even that faint synchronization would be enough to destabilize the two weaker sparks.

In the closed circuit the accumulated energy and subsequently growing charge will start and end in Starscreams spark at every rotation. Each time it passes through the sparks the charge will rise, increasing the energy accumulated, but where it in an open circuit would settle in both Thundercracker and Skywarps sparks, destabilizing them dangerously before extinguishing them, it now has an outlet in the form of Starscreams spark which will act as a buffer by storing an increasing amount of the accumulated energy while the energy and charge between the three sparks grows, protecting the two weaker sparks from the danger. The energy will pass through the three seekers and travel through both spark and frame until the charge is unbearable. Reaching this point the three-way bonding will take on a new facet, completely different from any other merge/bonding.

Their connection is going to implode, sealing the energy inside the sparks instead of ending with an exploding overload that sends the energy scattering.

Keeping the energy inside the loop created by the connected sparks, the temperature inside each spark will reach a point where the tiny atoms making up their life essences breaks and forms in increasing speed. It won’t be enough to extinguish them, but enough to fuse the sparks together into one entity. While the accumulated energy is used up in the process of breaking and reforming the three sparks, the three seekers will slowly become one, their minds overlapping and memories will flow completely unhindered. They will be able to see everything in each other’s’ sparks in the duration of the fusion between the sparks.

When the fusion between the three sparks peak, a shattering surge of energy will be released from the fused sparks breaking the connection and the energy will surge mercilessly through their frames until it is completely released out into their surroundings, leaving the three seekers with a massive overload as its aftereffect.

The first fusion between the three sparks is what is going to form them into the triade that will act as substitution for the trine they can’t become and the first time is going to be an all-consuming experience for the two weaker sparks. As a result from the fusion and forming of the triade, Thundercracker and Skywarp will gain strength from Starscreams spark, and every following fusion between them will not be as intense and dangerous as the first. They will become more powerful from the fusion with Starscream, become stronger and their abilities will be enhanced by the power infused into them from the spark of the ‘god borne’. They won’t just share their memories but their whole essence with their mates.

A pinging sensation in his spark draws Starscream from his processor, and he onlines his optics and returns his attention to his sparkmates when he senses them slowly stir awake.

A fond smile plays on his lips when Skywarps optics onlines and fixates on him. He feels as a gentle wash of feelings originating from the black and purple seeker fills his own spark through their bond and he can’t help return his own feelings, showing his deep care.

::I love you.:: he transmits through the bond and the smile grows when Skywarps optics widens in surprise at the words over the bond.

::We can-.:: Skywarp tentatively tries, stopping midsentence when he realizes that he truly can.

Seeing the tears forming in the black and purple seekers optics, Starscream kneels down beside Skywarp and gently leans over the seeker to allow their lips to touch.

/We can./ he confirms out loud as his lips moves against Skywarps savoring the other seeker’s taste.

A rumble alerts both submissives to the fact that their dominant has regained his consciousness as well and as one they turn their attention on the blue seeker.

Thundercracker stares at both submissives with a lazy smile on his lips. The return of Skywarp in his spark is placating and he enjoys the sight of both submissives interacting.

Slowly he reaches down to close his chestplates again to seal his spark safely behind the plating, but his movement is halted by Starscream reaching and holding back his servos.

/We aren’t done yet./ the tricolored seeker explains to the inquiring look Thundercracker shoots him.

Then Starscream stands and bares his spark to them.

/Fuse with me. Please./ He smiles, covering them in the bright red light of his spark.

Thundercracker stares stunned at the beautiful spark bared to him. Last time they merged he didn’t have a chance to see the spark. Now he takes in the sight of the bright red color and stares in awe when small sparks travels the surface giving off a strange translucence now and then.

He feels an intense pull towards the spark bared in front of him, and swallowing hard he rises from the ground, following the call Starscreams spark transmits to his own.

He can’t deny.

Beside him he can see Skywarp just as entranced as himself, staring fixatedly on Starscreams spark, the black and purple seeker’s own yellow spark now and then flaring, tendrils already trying to reach. Thundercracker wonders if his own is doing likewise but he can’t break away from the sight in front of him to look down.

He is powerless in whatever has gripped his life force. He doesn’t even want to fight it.

Then Starscream closes the last step between them and their frames connects, their sparks coming within reach of each other but without being able to touch and merge completely, and Starscreams spark lurches out into the space between the three frames finally connecting the three sparks.

When the energy build begins in the connection Thundercracker groans at the charge surging through his frame and spark, it is already almost too much! Then it dissipates only to return almost tenfold and his frame begins to tremble.

::T-Too much.:: he croaks through their bond.

::Relax, let it pass through you.:: Starscreams soothing voice sounds.

Every time the energy returns to pass through him it has intensified and soon he is even unable to communicate anything through their bond beyond gasps here and there when the energy slowly reaches dangerous levels.

When he is sure his spark can take no more and he is about to die, intense heat consumes his life force and he can’t stop the scream from leaving his vocalizer at the feeling of the searing heat.

Then he is no more as is whole processor cease functioning when a bright white light fills his vision and blanks out his surroundings completely.

Several kliks later the fusion between the three sparks peaks.

Thundercracker barely manages to realize that he is back inside himself with a working processor again, before a shattering overload mercilessly courses through his frame. He is forced to his knees when his frame no longer can take the onslaught of charge filling it and renders his systems unresponsive as even his processor is swamped by the charges.

Everything screams on his HUD as the powerful energy surges through his whole being and in the back of his helm the mind controller simply burns out at the surges of charge bombarding the device’s weaker connections.

When the energy finally leaves the frame, completely expelled to the surroundings, Thundercracker lies on the floor on his side, venting heavily and fighting against the unconsciousness threatening to claim him. He is vaguely aware of Starscream and Skywarp nearby.

::Are you okay?:: He asks weakly.

::Yes.:: Starscream. He realizes.

Then a weaker sounding yes follows shortly after. Skywarp.

With the knowledge that both submissives are okay, Thundercracker finally allows himself to succumb to the unconsciousness slowly but mercilessly claiming him.

A few breems later his awareness lurches to the surface once again and with a groan he onlines his optics. Everything is a blur to him and he offlines his optics again, trying to get his systems under control. A frown plays on his face when his wings twitch violently before he manages to detect the touch to them. Someone is touching him, and his sensors all over his frame feel misaligned with the intensity that the touch produces in his frame. Onlining his optics he turns his helm and looks at Starscream while the tricolored seeker continues to gently caress his wings

::Welcome back.:: Starscream sounds strongly in their bond. When the tricolored seeker turns his attention away from the blue seeker, Thundercrackers optics follows the line of sight and his optics fall on a still unconscious Skywarp. To the blue seeker’s surprise Skywarps wings are now completely healed instead of the small wing nubs that the starved frame had managed to regrow.

/What did you do to us?/ he asks carefully, wondering what it is that is at play between the three of them now that his processor has recovered a bit from the intense experience.

/Spark fusion./ Starscream states absentmindedly while he gently caresses Skywarp, a claw slowly following the edge of the black and purple seeker’s still open spark chamber for a moment before the tricolored seeker seals the spark safe behind the chestplates.

Spark fusion.

Thundercracker has never heard that term before.

/How do you feel?/ Starscream asks after some silence, his attention finally turning onto Thundercracker again. The look Starscream favors him is weighted, wary and hesitant.

How does he feel?

Closing his chestplates and sealing his spark away, Thundercracker contemplates Starscreams question, sensing that there is something hidden behind the words that he needs to pay attention to.

His frame is sore from the onslaught of sensations that had been bombarding every single one of his sensors, but beyond the soreness he feels surprisingly good, strong…no powerful is more like it.

He narrows his optics at the realization, staring hard into Starscreams optics as his processor tries to understand what it feels from his frame and spark.

A devious smirk slowly forms on Starscreams lips.

/Trine bonding ancient style Thundercracker. We are a triade now. That is what you feel, what your processor tries to sort out. We are fused closer than any regular sparkbond and what you sense is my spark empowering yours./ Starscream tells the blue seeker calmly, the smirk slowly growing.

Then the tricolored seeker rises from the ground beside Skywarp and leans in closer to the dominant, his lips going for Thundercrackers audial.

/Open to me Thundercracker./ Starscream murmurs before he with a purr adds /See and learn./ lips gently nibbling at the audial while he adds a pulsing from his spark to the words, using the same words Solaris had used on him when he was dragged into the brood carriers memories, and the memories that has flowed freely between the three seekers during their spark fusion fills Thundercrackers processor again, the words and pulsing unlocks the firewall sealing them away outside the fusion.

Frozen on the spot Thundercracker is witness to every single one of Starscreams memories; the time as a seekerling, seekerlet, youngling seeker, the departure from Cybertron, the awakening on Earth, Starscreams first encounter with them without their notice, the feelings blooming as his coding triggers, the pain when he denies it all, Ratchets solution. Then all the memories of the three of them together emerge and he is witness to the feelings deepening. The fateful encounter with the decepticons, then darkness until he wakes in the medbay with a feeling of dread, the challenge against the Winglord, the punishment, the mating, the revelation that Skywarp is being tortured by the collar, devastating feelings, anger, rage. 

Then there is the elation and eagerness when he finally flies with them for the first time, the sorrow at the fate of the humans, determination when he saves the civilian plane, his deviousness when he lures Skywarp to help him save the human child, then the guilt when Thundercrackers injury becomes clear followed by the serenity when Thundercracker slowly heals after Skywarps treatment.

Then follow the time separating them, the weeks of thoughts, his reunion with the autobots, the revelation that Megatron controls the Winglord, the feeling of devastation and fear, then determination, his need to do something, the knowledge that he can do something. Worry when he realizes that the seekers have vanished completely from detection, his decision to search. Then his encounter with the Winglord at the abandoned camp, his capture, his ‘release’, the fight with Thundercracker, before there lastly is the feeling of his spark extinguishing as he dies.

Thundercracker is witness to it all from Starscreams viewpoint, feeling every feeling, sensing every sensation, hearing every conversation and understands the language of the grounders from Starscreams view. Emotions surface in his spark at every memory, melting his own feelings into Starscreams. He tries to hold on to every memory before a new one replaces it and again and again he is hurled into new and different scenarios.

Then the memories take on a new facet and Thundercracker watches through a cloudy mist the memories from Starscreams time in the afterlife. Starcatcher is not visible in any of the memories as Starscream is greeted by the god and the other seeker; instead the carrier stands out as a wholly black to prevent Thundercracker from recognizing him. It isn’t something Starscream is doing, but another facet of the god manipulating, just like how Solaris clouded the last memory the brood carrier showed Starscream.

He watches Starscreams encounter with the ‘god borne’ and feels his own awe at the sight of Solaris, watches in rapt attention as the brood carriers memories flickers in his own processor, watching everything Solaris showed Starscream. Long forgotten knowledge and wisdom is revealed to the Winglord and precious knowledge that died out with the last of the ancients is being revived when the memories slowly logs inside the leading dominant’s processor enabling him to gain access without Starscreams influence.

When the last memory from the afterlife fades with Starscream passing through the portal and into the ethereal plane, Thundercracker watches himself as he mates with and sparks a newspark inside Starscream. Then he is released from the rush of memories and he returns to himself.

Confused he stares at Starscream. The regained information of the old ways, the rules of the ‘god borne’ and the ancients fills his processor, making every thought sluggish as the knowledge slowly settles and the memories slowly fade.

The last memory is the only one standing vividly in his processor and easily drowns out the more important ones as well as the knowledge about Megatrons hold on the Winglord.

Shaken to his core Thundercracker reaches a trembling servo and gently caresses Starscreams chestplates. He has been too consumed with everything else to even feel the added small pulsing from within Starscream.

/You’re sparked./ he whispers breathlessly, unable to comprehend it. After all he can’t remember anything about the rise of the rut and the following mating with the seeker in front of him.

Swallowing hard Starscream just nods, unable to say anything. He had forgotten that little important thing for a moment.

Protective coding finally activates completely and Thundercracker roughly connects their lips in a harsh kiss.

/MINE!/ he growls fiercely against Starscreams lips before he devours them again.

With a whimper Starscream returns the kiss, his claws in desperation scraping for purchase on the larger frame at the onslaught of feelings filling him.

/Thunder-cra-cracker./ he breathes between shallow gasps of air.

/Starscream./ Thundercracker rumbles in return, biting down on the submissive’s lips and drawing another whimper from Starscream.

A lowly purr from a third vocalizer breaks the affectionate moment and embarrassed Starscream breaks the kiss and looks away from both of the other seekers. He had completely forgotten Skywarp for a moment with his bond swamped by Thundercrackers possessive feelings.

/Aw, don’t stop. You look so hot together./Skywarp whines.

/Skywarp./ Thundercracker rumbles exasperated.

Looking to the black and purple seeker, Thundercracker firmly silences whatever Skywarp is about to say with a hard stare.

Gobsmacked Skywarp just stares at his blue mate for several kliks, whatever he was about to say completely forgotten.

/Sky Above Thunder. Your optics, they are normal again./ Skywarp breathes in awe when he finally finds his voice again.

Still embarrassed and feeling rather uncomfortable, Starscream fights with the feelings inside him before he turns his attention back onto his sparkmates.

/It’s because he is no longer controlled./ he softly says, deciding that it is time that that little part is revealed. He remembers Ratchets teachings about the device and what the former decepticon medic Triage had told about the orders relayed to Thundercracker. He hadn’t paid the change of optics color any deeper attention earlier with all their attention focused on getting to Skywarp, but now the magnitude of what has happened finally dawns and his spark flutters with happiness.

Thundercracker is free. The seekers are free.

But Megatron still lingers and the decepticon leader is still a very real threat to all the seekers. As long as Megatron remains alive, Starscream knows the grounder won’t stop before he has the seekers under his rule again, no matter the means. And that is going to bring his newspark in danger as well since he knows that he himself is a very big target in Megatrons processor.

The happy fluttering of his spark slowly dies only to be replaced with a burning hate and his optics darkens with anger.

/Thundercracker?/ he asks calculated, knowing that his next words is going to send the dominant on a crazy rampart.

In his processor he already imagines Megatrons mangled corpse with the large hole in the center where the spark has been torn from the frame.

A wicked smile plays on his lips.

He is going to be the trigger, but the weapon is Thundercracker and he barely manages to stifle the gleeful laughter escaping his vocalizer at the thought of turning Megatrons own weapon in the form of the seekers onto the decepticon leader self. And he isn’t even going to manipulate Thundercracker that much, he is just going to tell the other seeker the truth and watch the world burn.

Seekers don’t hold grudges, no, but grounders do, and even if Starscream is a seeker by spark he has been raised among grounders. The needs for revenge runs deeply inside any grounder be that bother autobots and decepticons and whether they want to admit it or not. Starscream might soon turn completely seeker and leave a large part of his old life behind when he enters his new society, but the need for righteous revenge still burns strong inside him. Just as strong as his need to protect his newspark with the online carrier coding demanding that he neutralizes the danger. And just as strong as Thundercrackers need to protect and defend them all.

Sensing the dark emotions filling their bonds with the tricolored seeker, both Skywarp and Thundercracker stares in silence at the seeker. The wings are showing their discomfort, twitching and trembling now and then.

/Starscream?/ Thundercracker asks in a careful tone.

Nuzzling his chestplates gently Starscream turns his attention on the dominant, showing wide bright optics and a worrying expression with his lips schooled in a thin line, efficiently hiding the all too innocent smile that threatens to play on them as he lets the next words leave his vocalizer.

/You have been controlled for thousands of years by grounders Thundercracker. You saw it in my memories, the device and the manipulation. You are free of it now. But the danger still lingers. They want to enslave us again. Want to kill me and our newspark. You have seen it all happen. Don’t let them do it again. Please! Don’t let them kill my newspark./ He says in a slightly trembling voice, lips wobbling with emotions as he tries to hide the smile wanting to grow on them while he watches the blue seeker’s optics flash dangerously when the words sinks into the dominant’s processor.

Thundercracker is completely frozen while Skywarp stares fearful from Starscream to Thundercracker and back to the tricolored seeker again as Starscream speaks.

/You’re sparked?/ the black and purple seeker asks with a weak horrified squeak, optics turning to Thundercracker again and widening in utter terror. A dominants protective coding is something you simply don’t play with carelessly.

/Yes./ Starscream confirms softly, optics trained completely on the blue seeker and in delight he watches Thundercrackers graduate transformation in front of them.

/And we are in danger?/ Skywarp asks voice trembling with fear and his wings vibrating in distress.

/Yes./ Starscream just confirms again, finally unable to contain the growing smile at the sight of his dominants’ coding rising to protect him, reveling in the murderous sensations filling him from Thundercracker. With a dark chuckle he envelops his spark in the rage rising inside the blue seeker and sends his own feelings of danger and the need to be protected as well as fear and worry back, allowing his carrier coding to scream loudly through their bond and riling the dominant even further towards the edge of crazed madness.

A gentle trembling whisper of::I love you.:: through their bond has Thundercracker turning his attention squarely on Starscream, and the submissive tries to quell the sudden fear rising inside him at the sight of the unemotional hard and completely white coding controlled optics. It reminds him so much of how Thundercracker was after Megatron had messed with his coding, but this time he has the bond and what he senses from Thundercracker slowly eases the fear. A fierce protectiveness swamps him from the blue seeker. He feels an urge to go to the blue seeker, to cross that small distance there is between the two of them and allow Thundercracker to wrap him in the dominants protective presence, but even as he feels that urge, he senses the danger that Thundercracker also represents at the moment.

With rising fear Skywarp stares at Thundercracker, then his carrier coding suddenly screams and fiddling with his cockpit he finds it empty. His seekerling, where is it! Panicking he looks around trying to find the seekerling and he sighs a breath of relief when his optics lands on the still recharging form of his little one lying in a corner.

With a blur Skywarp moves, going for the seekerling in the corner of the cell, curling his servos protectively around it. A dominant on rampart is a danger to everyone in the surroundings, even his submissives to a degree if they do something foolish like trying to stop him. Gently settling the seekerling inside his cockpit some of the worry leaves the black and purple submissive. His young aren’t going to be hurt by its creator by mistake now and he isn’t going to be hurt in an attempt to protect the seekerling if Thundercracker by any chance risks its life.

Then he leans against Starscream, seeking comfort as Thundercracker slowly is overtaken by the need to protect, defend, and KILL right in front of him. Sagging slightly in the comfort of each other both submissives flinches when the blue seeker finally lets out a deafening roar of madness and storms out the cell, having given in completely to the coding driving him. 

Moving to follow the blue seeker, Starscream turns when Skywarp holds him back, the black and purple seeker’s servo firmly curled around a wingtip while Skywarp shakes his helm in warning.

/I have seen him affected like this before Starscream. You don’t want to be there when he finally unleashes his anger. It isn’t pretty. Let him deal with the threat the grounders possess. Why don’t we tend to our kin while Thundercracker is gone?/ Skywarp asks in an urgent tone. He really don’t want to see Thundercracker like he is when under the influence of the protective coding, it can be rather appalling to say the least.

/But-/ Starscream stutters, the need and want to see the revenge dealt warring inside him.

/Remember when I told you to never put him in a situation where he is going to sacrifice himself for you? Well, this is one such. You follow him in his current maddening rampart, and you might put him in unnecessary danger. I won’t let you do that./ Skywarp says, his optics hardening.

/But-/ Starscream protests, his helm turning to where Thundercracker has disappeared from his vision, unwilling to just sit back and wait. He wants to be there and watch when Thundercracker kills Megatron.

Suddenly he is flush again the wall of the cell with Skywarps frame leaning heavily on him, forcing him against the bars.

/Now you listen!/ Skywarp snarls in a very un-Skywarp way, fangs bared in open threat. /We might be bonded Starscream; however I am his first mate! You can challenge me on my position later, but until then ranking orders dictates that you listen to my orders when Thundercracker isn’t here to issue them himself!/ the black and purple seeker continues to snarl, lips quivering in warning as he spits out the words.

Optics wide with fear, Starscream stares at Skywarp, unable to respond to the open hostility showed by the usually relaxed black and purple seeker.

Yellow optics softening slightly, Skywarp sighs.

/I want to be there too Starscream./ the black and purple seeker confess openly, some of the hostility bleeding from his frame and he no longer forces Starscream up against the wall. /But it is best for us to stay away while Thundercracker is in the state he is, it is safer. Don’t forget that you are sparked Starscream. Your carrier coding is going to go haywire in the proximity of grounders and that is going to affect Thundercracker, distracting him. Right now he is just as much a danger to us as he is to the targets of his anger./ Skywarp explains calmly, voice softening.

While Skywarp prevents Starscream from following him, Thundercracker storms through the remains of the decepticon base with only one purpose in mind, kill the threat to his mates and his creations. With the coding driving him on, he flings himself into the air when he is free of the buildings and with a roar he begins his hunt on the grounders.

With wing sensors primed to detect any sign of spark signatures he circles the area around the base wider and wider, knowing on instinct that the grounders won’t have gone far. Their behavior is so much like the petro rabbits, never straying too far from the well-known and safe.

This time it is going to be their undoing. He is going to make sure of that!

His spark burns hot with the coded need to protect and defend his people and now especially Starscream and Skywarp. Starscreams memories tells him enough of the horrors he himself can’t remember anything about, and the feeling of Starscreams death from the memories, by his own claws no less, has the rage inside him burning even stronger. It isn’t revenge for his part, but the need to prevent any harm to come to any of them again.

The growing anger and the need for violence finally causes Thundercracker to lose any lingering control and with a massive resounding boom he unleashes his ability to the air surrounding him in his flight, causing his surroundings to reverberate with the force of power unleashed by the weapon.

The boom travels wide and far and miles away the decepticons look up at the sky as the sound waves travels overhead their makeshift base.

With several optics turning towards the decepticon leader they all wait for orders to deal with the incoming threat.

Gnashing his dentas, Megatron narrows his optics as he stares up into sky from where the sound originates. Unconsciously he tests his fusion cannon, satisfied when the gentle hum of the charging weapon sounds. He is going to be ready.

/Let’s try and take it by surprise. Prepare the sniper. Everyone else, sedation arrows now!/The decepticon leader barks loudly setting everyone in motion to prepare for the incoming seeker.

If it wants a fight then they will fight, but he surely isn’t going to fight fair!

Once sedated they are going to see what has happened to release the seeker from his control and then they are going to fix it! And if it can’t be fixed, well then its usefulness has run out and the seekers have become yet another enemy. And an enemy is something you kill. One thing is sure, either the blue seeker submits to its master once again or it dies.

Hard unemotional red optics turns back onto the sky as Megatron patiently waits for the Winglord to make its presence known physically, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. ‘Come and get me, PET!’ it seems to taunt.

Four miles and to the south Thundercrackers wings finally detects spark signatures and with a roar he sets his path towards the pinging signatures, the urge to kill and main growing with every klik he comes closer to the signatures and they ping stronger and stronger.

The first signature drawing his attention in the sea of pings are shielded somewhat and hard to locate precisely and it just makes his threat assessment prioritize that single one above all the other signatures.

Turning his whole attention on locating the elusive spark, he onlines and engages his lasers the instant he gets a verification of the location and is within reach, launching a volley of laser fire towards the location. His coding sings when the shielding fades and he is able to sense the sniper completely as the grounder’s life fluids drain from the corpse.

Instantly his enhanced awareness turns onto the remaining sparks and he growls lowly. Quickly his threat assessment sorts through the data provided by his sensors and with the sniper dead he turns to the next on the list, which by sheer chance is the decepticon leader.

Not that Thundercracker knows it. Megatron is just the one standing out as the most threatening right then.

But before he manages to get Megatron in his target lock the rest of the decepticons fires their guns, filling the air with sedation arrows.

Sensing the danger Thundercracker skillfully barrel rolls to allow the arrows to pass by him by sheer inches and he only deviates slightly from his flight path head on with the decepticon leader as he prepares to overfly the area and release his lasers.

A faint pain from his right wing has him snarling as an arrow strikes the wingtip. The needle lodges itself into the plating but the angle is so bad and the plating so thin that it pierces the wing and instead of releasing its content into the seeker the sedation solution is splashed into the air with just a small amount entering the seeker’s systems.

The small amount entering him slowly numbs the sensors in the wing but beyond that the sedation takes no further effect. However with a numb wing Thundercracker is unable to avoid the further incoming arrows. From then on he is an easy target for the grounders still firing at him as he comes closer and closer.

With warnings screaming at him, Thundercracker makes a harsh decision.

Diving vertically he charges towards his target. A few hundred feet above the ground and his target he releases a full charged sonic boom before he levels out in his dive and elegantly glides on the wind as it brings him into a safe altitude once again while the weapon rattles everything in a distance of half a mile. 

Down on the ground all decepticons are thrown off their feet, killed or damaged in various degrees by the sheer force of the unleashed weapon. The only one managing to remain standing is Megatron, and even the decepticon leader staggers in his attempt to remain standing.

Burning red optics follows the blue seeker’s ascent high into the air again while Megatrons HUD screams to him about severe outer damage to his plating. Cracks are already leaking energon from where the lines behind the armor have ruptured and his grey plating flows with the streaks of purple. But the decepticon leader harshly ignores the warnings, silencing the alerts and turning his whole attention onto the seeker.

With a growl he raises his fusion cannon and begins to charge it.

Enough is enough.

High up in the air Thundercracker transforms to root mode and cuts his thrusters allowing for gravity to take hold on him and hurl him towards the ground. Stabilizing his falling frame with his wings he manages to keep himself up right in the fall and when he lands with an earth shattering impact his thrusters easily takes the power of the impact. In a fluid motion Thundercracker reaches out and seizes Megatron around the neck with one clawed servo while the other tears through the chestplating and easily rips out the grounder’s sparkchamber. Wires are sparking and Megatron jerks violently in the grip as his processor uses the last amount of energy powering it to understand what has happened.

The spark crackles violently inside the sparkchamber before it extinguishes.

Releasing the greying frame and the empty sparkchamber Thundercracker grunts before he turns his attention onto his surroundings.

He isn’t done yet.

The demise of the decepticon leader scatters the rest of the decepticon troops in the hope to avoid the same fate as their leader.

But the Winglord is not one to show mercy on his enemies and definitely not when influenced by coding.

One after one Thundercracker picks the grounders off in an act of pure carnage. No one escapes his attention. No one is able to flee the murderous seeker.

Venting heavily some time later the blue seeker stares at his surroundings splashed completely in various degrees of drying energon. His spark pulses calmer as the coding slowly has been satisfied and the immediate threat to his submissives has been neutralized.

When the coding releases its iron grip on him he staggers to his knees feeling suddenly fatigued. His wing is still numb and the sensation forces a growl from his vocalizer. He can’t sense his surroundings right.

A mile away from the carnage Soundwave stumbles further away from the scene of the slaughter. The telepath is favoring damages of his own from the sonic boom and he is bleeding energon here and there, but could be worse than he actually is.

When the seeker had killed Megatron, Soundwave had been quick to react and using his ability he had blinded the seeker to his presence while he fled, knowing that staying there would be his certain death. Megatrons death is a hard blow to the decepticon army, but Soundwave is going to fight on and make sure that what they had begun all those many vorns ago is going to be realized.

With the placated coding subsiding, senses returns into the bond Thundercracker shares with Starscream and Skywarp and he becomes aware of their vulnerability, Skywarp with his seekerling and Starscream with his newspark. It’s almost enough to send him into a new bout of crazed madness, but he manages to ease the urge. The current threat has been dealt with and all he now needs is to rejoin with them and make sure they are safe and within his proximity. He is going to glue himself to Starscream just like every time Skywarp carried a newspark and he knows Skywarp is going to stay close to him and not stray far.

Not favoring the massacre around him any other glance, he transforms and takes to the sky, aiming towards his mates and his people still suffering down in the basement of the grounder base.

Meanwhile inside the Autobot base:

The autobots stares at Teletran’s main screen in various states of shock. In the back ground the sound of Ratchets litany of “He is alive? My little seeker is alive?” can be heard as the sentences are repeated again and again and has sounded ever since they got the alert about seeker activity at the decepticon base, but only a few favor the CMO with any glances.

Ratchet is completely lost inside his own world – nursing his chestplates and the spark still aching from the broken bond, and doesn’t pay any attention to the drama playing out on Teletran’s main screen.

They had all seen Thundercrackers attack on the decepticon base and then later when the blue seeker and – was that really Starscream?! – disappeared into one of the few still standing buildings making up the decepticon base, and now they watches as the blue seeker reemerges from the building chasing a decepticon. They’re all visibly cringing at the sight of Thundercracker mercilessly falling upon his prey and gouging the unfortunate mech with his claws. Then Starscream suddenly appears moments later, and they still haven’t recovered from the first sight of the very much alive tricolored seeker, so they all stare in various degrees of confusion at Starscream as the seeker kneels down beside the violently discarded decepticon lying in a rapidly growing pool of energon.

Then the two seekers disappear into the buildings again and nothing further happens.

Left on edge the autobots scatters inside their base, talking vividly about what they had seen on the screen. Ratchet is being lead to the medbay by Firstaid and the medic sedates the clearly traumatized CMO. Ratchet hadn’t been well ever since the breaking of the bond to his creation and the sudden reappearance of the seeker had turned the CMO into a nervous wreck – a state no one ever had seen him in before, not even at that time where Thundercracker had gotten hold on him on the battlefield back on Cybertron. It unsettles them greatly. Ratchet is the one you always can, or could count on to be there.

But it seemed Starscream dying and then coming back from the death finally had fried the CMO’s nonexistent emotional circuits.

Not that anyone blames him; they are all mystified and spooked by what has been happening.

Cycles later Teletran once again alerts them to movements at the decepticon base and the few still lingering inside the command center stares in a mix of dread and wary anticipation as Thundercracker leaves in a flurry, his wings held taut as he takes to the sky and transforms into his deadly tetrajet. Teletran traces the blue seeker in his flight and the autobots – now all gathered in front of the main screen once again, bar one sedate Ratchet – is witnesses to the pure carnage as Thundercracker within less than a cycle decimates every single decepticon stationed on Earth to mangled, bleeding parts of metal.

Optimus freezes the transmission showing the image of Thundercracker bathed in the fresh and dried life fluids of his victims roaring out in victory.

Complete silence fills the command center and everyone is frozen as they all stares at the image on the main screen and tries to understand.

“So, what do we do now?” Sideswipe breaks the silence curiously. “Is the war over?” he adds hesitantly as he stares blankly at the screen and the deadly seeker. He really doesn’t want to meet Thundercracker right now and looking at how easily Thundercracker made process of the decepticons, he wonders if there is someone who has held a protective servo over their helms during the war, because if THAT is how Thundercracker truly is, then why are they still alive?

At the questions from the red frontliner, the autobot high command stares at each other.

That is indeed the question.

Are the decepticons going to keep fighting now that Megatron is dead? Do they have someone skilled enough to lead?

“I don’t know Sideswipe. I don’t know.” Optimus sighs before he with one last glance at the triumphant seeker turns off the main screen and simply walks out of the command center.

Glances follow their departing leader, but no one says anything. It is all strangely anticlimactic, but in their sparks a heavy burden seems lifted. The seekers are free, Megatron is dead and the war seems to finally be over.

Now they just need to salvage whatever they can and hopefully begin to rebuild their former lives.

Decepticon base:

When Thundercracker returns to the mostly ruined decepticon base he circles the still billowing ruins before he lands. Down below on the ground are groups of his seekers gathered and with every breem more and more emerges from within the building that had held them captive.

Without the decepticons there to inject them with sedation they had begun to stir awake not long after the Winglord had left to kill the threat to his submissives and his people.

The sound of his thrusters’ thunderous roar gains the huddled groups’ attention and they all look up as Thundercracker comes down to land in the middle of them.

The blue seeker is a nightmarish sight with his frame completely covered in the dark purple shade of dried energon. He exudes an air of clear violence with his wings held high and taut on his back and his optics still shining bright white.

/Winglord./ Murmurs greets him in fearful respect, but he pays them no further attention beyond a cut nod before he walks into the building to locate Starscream and Skywarp. His coding won’t subside completely before he has made sure that they are okay. His whole frame crawls with the need to ascertain their well-being and when he descends down into the basement all his attention is on the black and purple seeker standing in the middle of the corridor and the outline of white wings inside one of the cells.

Skywarp knows the drill and willingly allows Thundercracker to feel him up and down and scent his whole frame until the dominant is sure that the black and purple seeker shows no sign of hurt. His cockpit receives a bit more attention and with a grunt Thundercracker retreats with the knowledge that the seekerling is healthy and okay.

Starscream stops in checking the weak seeker in front of him to look at the display and when Skywarp moves away he stares as Thundercracker moves closer to him, looming above him. His optics flickers to Skywarp and the black and purple seeker nods reassuringly.

::Let him check you.:: Skywarp sounds in their bond, urging Starscream to rise and let Thundercracker do what the dominant need to do to lay the earlier surfacing coding completely to rest.

Warily Starscream rises and turns to face Thundercracker, his optics flickering from Thundercracker as the blue seeker thoroughly inspects his frame and to Skywarp for reassurance. Then Thundercracker clearly fixates on his chestplates and he feels how the dominant’s claws trail the armor protecting his spark and newspark and he almost takes an involuntary step back.

::Relax Starscream.:: Skywarp chuckles, ::He is just making sure you and the newspark is okay. That is after all why he has the protective coding in the first place.:: the black and purple seeker explains with a smile.

Finally Thundercracker retreats with a satisfied rumble and his wings lower to a relaxed setting on his back.

/How are they fairing?/ Thundercracker asks when the coding finally has subsided completely and he is able to think clearly again.

Starscream turns and kneels beside the greatly weakened seeker inside the cell, reaching for a cube with energon.

/Most are up and functioning when they have been refueled./ Starscream adds offhandedly as his attention turns on the weak and slowly greying seeker in the cell. It’s becoming critical for this seeker.

Starscream knew the decepticons would have a stockpile of energon cubes somewhere in the building to keep themselves running and to feed the seekers the meager amount which had kept them barely alive until now and Skywarp had located it when Starscream had told him what the cubes with fuel looked like. It had taken them little time with the fuel to energize most of their seekers. Now only the weakest lingers and Starscream fears that some of them won’t make it.

With an affectionate caress to Starscreams taut wings Thundercracker kneels beside him.

/Let me help./ he gently murmurs, sensing the distress Starscream doesn’t let show, but is unable to keep away from the blue seeker in their bond. At the touch and the words Starscream finally gives up any pretense and Thundercracker catches the cube before it falls to the floor when Starscream finally shows the extent of his distress. Skywarp is at their backs instantly and tugging gently on Starscreams trembling wings he shushes the other submissive to his thrusters and with a soft gaze at Thundercracker as the Winglord continues Starscreams work, leads the distressed carrier out.

/You have done well Starscream, but even you need the sky and the air./ Skywarp sooths as he drags Starscream with him.

/But I need to help. They are dying and I can do something. I need to./ the tricolored seeker protests and struggles a bit to get back down in the basement.

/Thundercracker is down there with them. Don’t worry Starscream. Think about this, he KNOWS who is going to die before they do and can prevent it. He isn’t going to let any of them die. And if he needs help he is going to contact us. Now you need to relax and maybe fly a bit to ease your spark. This much distress isn’t healthy for your newspark./ Skywarp coos softly.

Starscream knows Skywarps argument is sound and with a soft sigh he allows the other to lead him out of the building. The sight of the sky and the feeling of the wind caressing his frame already does wonders for his panicking spark and he realizes that so caught up in the need to help that he had been, he hadn’t been aware of his own troubled state. Skywarp is right, his distress is affecting his newspark, the fast pulsing of his spark affects the flow of energy and if he doesn’t slow it down he is going to extinguish the newspark by the sheer flow of energy transmitted to it from his own spark.

Venting deeply and calmly fanning his wings wide and rejoicing in the feeling of the wind and the scents of the surroundings his spark slowly eases and when he throws back his helm and looks up straight into the sky and at the clouds drifting he can’t help the cleansing tears flowing from his optics. The bonds to his mates are easing his state in their own way and he sends deep affection down them and laughs when Thundercracker responds with a fierce protectiveness and passionate love while Skywarps response is gentler and deeply caring.

/Come./ Skywarp says as he gently tugs on Starscreams arm and together they takes to the sky. Flying side by side the two submissives enjoys the moment, forgetting all the pain and hurt the last few cycles has been so occupied by. Soon it turns into a playful chase and Starscream pushes his engines as hard as he can while Skywarp initiates his teleportation to try and catch or try and stay ahead of the other. Finally Skywarp wins by a spectacular show of teleportation skill and when he curls his frame securely around Starscream he nuzzles his helm into the crook at Starscreams neck.

/You know I love you, right?/ the black and purple seeker murmurs affectionately.

At that moment Starscreams spark swells with so many feelings that he is unable to answer for several kliks, when he finally manages to control the wash of feelings assaulting him at those words, he hugs Skywarp closer to his frame in a desperate need to have the other closer.

/Yes. Yes, now I know it for sure./ the tricolored seeker answers in a voice filled with all his own feelings.

Skywarp looks up and at the sight of the silent tears running down Starscreams cheeks he croons while he gently kisses them away.

/Shh. No need to cry my Star. We loved you from the first time we saw you and we will love you until our sparks fade. We will always be there for you./ the black and purple seeker sooths while he adjusts the power to his thrusters and gently takes them down to the ground again. They haven’t gone far, just stayed above the ruins of the decepticon base and as they land every one of the other seekers turns their attention on them. Embarrassed by his emotional state and aware of the attention on him Starscream hides his face in Skywarps plating while the black and purple seeker leads them away to a bit more privacy. Skywarp slowly lowers them to the ground when they are out of sight and Starscream instantly curls into him, the white wings still trembling with unleashed emotions.

/It’s okay. It’s just the emotional backslash taking effect now Starscream. Let it all out, let it go. Don’t be ashamed. It’s a part of being a carrier too. We are that more emotional while carrying./ the black and purple seeker murmurs in a soothing voice while he pets the trembling wings.

The touch to his wings is calming and it doesn’t take long before the trembling in his wings ceases. Content, with Skywarp still petting his frame, Starscream enjoys the closeness and he eagerly pushes his wings into Skywarps touch asking for more.

A small laugh escapes Skywarp at his action and the black and purple seeker eagerly continues to touch the white wings so willingly pushed into his servos. Expertly the black and purple seeker maps out the wide expanses and his claws easily find the fine and minute transformation seams littering the wings. When a full frame shudder travels the tricolored seeker Skywarp stops his claws from playing any further with the highly sensitive ailerons. 

/It feels good like this, right?/ Skywarp asks with a smile in his voice. He can feel how Starscream runs hot and he himself isn’t completely unaffected by the wing play.

/Yes./ Starscream answers as he lifts his helm from Skywarps neck and leans in to kiss the other. The touch of their lips draws out a weak moan from the black and purple seeker and the sound just encourages the tricolored seeker. Suddenly he leans heavily on the other seeker, his lips devouring those lips eliciting such delightful sounds while his servos travel the black and purple frame. Skywarp melts into his touch and willingly sprawls himself out beneath the tricolored seeker when Starscream rearranges their positions with the black and purple seeker laid out open and inviting beneath him.

At the sight of Skywarps willingness his spark flares hot and he fills his bond to the black and purple seeker with his burning arousal as he slowly grinds their heated frames against each other. A deep groan escapes his vocalizer at the friction and pleasure their connected plating creates and he can feel how his own frame heats even further at his movements. The next grind is almost too much with his covers suddenly connecting with Skywarps heated plating and he jerks as the searing pleasure at the contact almost causes him to overload from the tactile stimulation. He offlines his optics for a moment, caught up in the surging waves of pleasure flowing through his frame, but a moment later it slowly subsides leaving a pleasing tingling sensation in every sensor littering his frame. Onlining his optics again, he looks down at Skywarp with hazy optics and smiles at the bright burning yellow optics meeting him.

Another firm grind, and the sound of covers releasing is heard.

Starscreams spike slowly extends and pressurizes while Skywarps valve is bared to the other. A moan leaves Skywarps vocalizer and the black and purple seeker buckles his hips up against Starscream, smearing lubricants all over the plating his leaking valve comes into contact with. Feeling Skywarps hips moving against his spike startles Starscream and with intense pleasure shooting through his frame he throws back his helm and elicits a long drawn out groan of pleasure.

/Take me Star. Please./ Skywarp whimpers with need, his hips having their own life as he desperately seeks out the pleasure which is going to give him the much needed release his aroused frame craves.

When Starscream looks down at Skywarp again, his optics are glazed over and unseeing, the pleasure in his frame making him distant and he acts purely on instinct as he withdraws a bit to sheath his spike at the valve entrance and pushes into the warm and welcome heat.

/Ngh. Yes!/ Skywarp moans deeply as his valve is penetrated. Trashing slightly at the feeling of the delicious pleasure racking his frame as every sensor in his valve slowly is triggered as Starscream hilts himself carefully inside the valve.

Fully sheathed Starscream remains unmoving and tense for a while until the onslaught of pleasure slowly subsides and he isn’t going to overload right there before he even has begun. As he begins to withdraw he realizes that he isn’t going to last long, his spike is too responsive and the sensors littering it too sensitive to not trigger his overload within the next few thrusts. At the realization he tenses again and frowns as he looks down into Skywarps glittering optics.

Somehow understanding Starscreams peril, Skywarp smiles lazily.

/Don’t worry Star. Don’t hold it back. It is going to be this intense the first many times. Don’t fight it. Give in to it. I’m close too. Haven’t had Thunder for a while I guess./ Skywarp sooths in a voice strained with the need to remain coherent for just a bit longer to explain. /Good to –ngh- feel you./ he adds, clenching his valve encouragingly around Starscreams spike.

A strangled groan leaves Starscream as the tight valve suddenly become even tighter around his spike and he begins a jerky thrusting, drawing out the pleasure as much as he can before he succumbs to the overload he can feel just held at bay by his shallow tentative thrusts. He is torturing himself like this for several kliks, but soon the charge in his frame grows too unbearable and with a vicious thrust deeply into Skywarp he finally overloads with a scream, his spike releasing its fluids into a valve suddenly clamping mercilessly down on his sensitized spike and a pained yelp leaves his vocalizer as the spike is squeezed and milked of its fluids. He isn’t even able to watch Skywarp as the black and purple seeker trashes in overload, so consumed by his own release is he.

He barely manages to recover from the overload before someone is throwing him onto his back and pinning him beneath a heavy frame which certainly isn’t Skywarp. Struggling a bit, processor still muddled by the overload it is first when he hears the low growl from Thundercracker that he stills and his optics focuses on the seeker lying heavily on top of his frame. Vents of hot air is blow over his plating from the dominant and his frame catches on even before his processor and before he knows it his valve cover is releasing and Thundercracker is taking him hard and brutally.

The heavy grunts from the dominant are accompanied by whimpers and gasps from the submissive as the mating turns more and more vicious. Claws racks down Starscreams frame, but never touches his chestplates and the energon drawn from the claw marks on his frame is instantly licked by the blue seeker, forcing sounds of pleasure from the submissives vocalizer. The merciless pounding into Starscream creates large amounts of excess heat making the blue seekers frame almost scorching to the touch and when Thundercracker roars out in overload it is almost deafening.

A scream is torn from Starscreams vocalizer as he overloads at the feeling of the scorching hot transfluids released into his tormented and torn valve, the harsh mating having strained the delicate valve lining and created tears here and there. Warnings flash on his HUD and the burning heat from Thundercrackers frame still flush against Starscreams triggers every sensor the blue frame touches with unpleasant pings of pain. Self-diagnostic works rapidly to determine the extent of the damages to the tricolored seeker’s frame as self-repair triggers. In all the warnings present on his HUD the alert about low energy levels and an almost empty tank drowns and Starscream isn’t aware of the approaching danger when the levels fall too low. As a carrier the seeker need to keep his levels higher than usual to sustain the increased strain on his systems.

Unaware of the levels dropping towards the critical point where his frame is going to be forced into emergency stasis to redistribute the remaining energy to preserve the life of both carrier and newspark, Starscream’s whole attention is still of the blaring warnings while his processor is still clouded with post overload sensations.

Heavy grunting becomes more laboriously and with a deep vent Thundercracker rolls them both, settling on the ground with Starscream laying on top of him. The gentle nuzzling to his wings is a stark contrast to the brutality Thundercracker showed just a moment before and Starscream is feeling quite confused at the mercurial changes in the dominant.

The humorous laugh leaving the blue seeker makes him even more confused and when Skywarp joins in he feels like he is left out on something.

Sensing the growing confusion and the rising questions inside Starscream, Thundercrackers laughter slowly dies down to allow him to explain.

/You’re perfect Starscream, you know that?/ the blue seeker smiles. /The perfect submissive./ the dominant adds with a purr. /The sight of you taking care of Sky like that. How could I not get aroused when I walk in on you two joining? And you reacted so perfectly going from dominating Sky to submitting to me./ Thundercracker continues as he hugs the tricolored seeker firmly against his frame.

/How are you feeling?/ Thundercracker asks when Starscream remains silent. Idly he wonders if he had hurt the submissive too much during their mating? His reaction at seeing Starscream taking Skywarp had been surprising. It was the first time the two submissives joined and he knew it wouldn’t be the last. He had known this would happen at some point, yet still the fierceness awakening inside him had surprised him. He had felt a deep need to dominate Starscream completely and when the tricolored seeker had been in the throes of overload he had moved.

However he hadn’t anticipated the brutality in which he had taken the submissive.

He didn’t think his coding would allow for him to be that harsh with Starscream being a carrier.

But nothing had held him back and the pleasure at dominating the tricolored seeker had swamped him, driven him further in his brutality.

/Starscream?/ he asks, voice showing a bit worry when he gets no response from the submissive. Lifting Starscreams helm from where it lies against his neck dread fills his spark when all that greets him is offline optics.

Instantly he sits up, cradling Starscream in his lap and with rapidly growing concern looks into the lifeless optics.

/St-Starscream?!/ He asks again, gently shaking the slack frame in his embrace but nothing happens. Skywarp joins him, the black and purple seeker’s face showing his own emotions.

/Calm Thunder, it doesn’t help anything if you panic./ Skywarp sooths as he delves into his bond with Starscream. Sensing the lingering presence there without any indication that Starscream is hurt in a way that is going to kill him, Skywarp returns to the emotional distraught dominant desperately cradling the tricolored seeker’s slack frame. /He is carrying and the last cycles has been stressful and traumatizing even if he wouldn’t admit it, so I guess maybe the two overloads so close to each other simply became too much for this systems to handle and they shut him down in emergency stasis./ Skywarp muses out loud while he gently strokes Thundercrackers trembling wings.

/It’s my fault./ Thundercracker murmurs, his wings slumping low on his back. He gently fondles a white wing while the other servo is placed on Starscreams chestplates to sense the still pulsing sensation of two sparks inside the carrier. At least the newspark seems okay. It is just Starscream who suffer.

/No. It isn’t your fault./ Skywarp argues even if some of it actually is the blue seeker’s fault, but he knows that he needs to drag the dominant out of his guilt trip before it completely devours him. Right now Thundercracker seems to have become more like the seeker he was long before war occurred and it is shocking for the black and purple seeker to suddenly deal with an emotionally affected Winglord. How long has it been since he last saw Thundercracker this vulnerable and affected? He vaguely remembers their first heat/rut and the vulnerable and innocent Winglord back then. He can’t help wonder if Thundercracker is becoming that seeker again? He has become so used to the fierceness and brutality in his blue mate that the thought of having the ‘old’ Thundercracker back is frightening. Their society has hardened during the war and if the Winglord suddenly changes back while his people don’t, then Thundercracker isn’t going to survive long.

Then again, looking at Thundercracker still covered in the dried life fluids of the grounders making him purpler than blue Skywarp knows that not everything inside the dominant is going to revert back. He is never going to get that innocent Winglord back, war affects you whether you want it or not. But the tears slowly forming in the blue seeker’s optics is greatly unsettling and he knows that Thundercracker is softening, how much however is yet to be seen.

When one breem become two without any sign that Starscream is going to rouse on his own, Skywarp knows it isn’t just fatigue from the overloads, but something else which is causing Starscreams state. Worry grows in his spark and he places one of his servos beside Thundercrackers, feeling the pulsing of the two sparks inside the tricolored seeker. When the pulsing of the newspark’s spark begins to weaken slightly and Starscreams pulses faster for a moment to stabilize it, Skywarps own spark almost stops pulsing at the weak stutter in Starscreams pulsing when the mature spark slows down again.

Something is affecting the energy flow to the newspark causing Starscreams spark to compensate at the expense of itself. But the mature spark can only compensate for so much, and if they don’t do anything to right whatever is causing the disruption in the normal flow both carrier and newspark is going to die eventually.

The effect of starved systems is rarely seen among the seekers since most follows the urge to hunt and refuel when their instincts ping them with the need. However Earth isn’t Cybertron, there is no prey to hunt and the fuel they are able to retrieve from attacking the humans isn’t good enough for a carrier with a newspark nestling inside him, the process at converting the fuel to useful energon is going to strain the carrier’s system even more and the heavy impurities in the unnatural fuel takes even more energy to rinse from the frame. They need pure natural energon, and the only source to that are themselves and the grounders.

Following that line of thoughts Skywarp frowns, and then he looks up at Thundercracker.

/He needs to feed./ he states calmly as he looks at his blue mate. /And soon./ he adds in a more serious and grave tone.

/He didn’t-…/ Thundercracker begin to ask, only to stop as he realizes that he already knows the answer.

/No. He was too consumed by the urge to help. I should have forced him to feed when we began to feed the others./ Skywarp sighs, his wings drooping low on his back at his own failure. He should have forced feed Starscream back then to secure that the carrier was topped and able to handle the strain on his systems, but Starscream had simply refused to listen, caught up in the moment and need to help the dying seekers around him.

And now the carrier is dying, the newspark inside him is draining him of his remaining energy slowly but certainly.

/There aren’t more of those cubes with fuel Sky. I used them all to stabilize the critical among us. We don’t have the suitable fuel to sustain him, unless I drain myself, but I don’t know how much he need and it might be more than is safely for me to do./ Thundercracker says, his wings mirroring Skywarps as they lower on his back.

Normally they could have seekers in their group donating, but everyone beyond Thundercracker and Skywarp are suffering and recovering and needs their energon in their lines. Skywarp isn’t a choice either since he is caring for a seekerling; he needs the fuel to feed his creation.

Their optics locks and understanding is visible as they stare at each other, their wings still drooping low and trembling slightly. Thundercracker’s optics shows his disgust at what they are about to do and seeing the hope in Skywarps causes him to abruptly look away from the black and purple seeker and down at Starscream. Hugging the dying seeker close he nods silently before rising from the ground.

There is only one solution.

Half a cycle later proximity alerts blare inside the Autobot base and the klaxon startles them. ‘What now?’ is the shared thought as they gather inside the command center to see what has the alarms activating. The sight on Teletran’s main screen shocks them as they watch the incoming force of seekers. Not a few sparks fills with fear and terror at the sight, expecting their very soon violent and painful death in the claws of a murderous seeker. Thundercrackers display as he massacred the decepticons stands vividly in their processor and what other purpose would the seekers have than kill or feed?

As they stare at the screen, the group of seekers circles the top of the volcano before they one by one settles on the rough surface of the mountain, grouping up and huddling together. Caught by the unusual sight the autobots isn’t aware of the two seekers breaking away from the group and landing at the crack at the base of the volcano.

It is first a few breems after the large group of seekers has settled that they hear the pained sounds of metal being torn just as more alarms begin to blare as the exit door is torn open. Heavy clanks of thrusters follow and increase in volume as the intruder comes closer to the command center and stunned the autobots turn as one and watches as Thundercrackers massive frame – carrying an unconscious Starscream walks by the door to the command center, not even favoring them with one glance.

Moments later Skywarps smaller frame follows, but where Thundercracker completely ignores his surroundings, having only one destination in mind as he follows the corridors towards where he remembers the healing unit is located, Skywarp stops and stares into the command center, then visibly hesitating for a moment the black and purple seeker walks into the room with the autobots causing them all to hold their venting as the seeker approaches. Yellow optics are clearly scanning them as the seeker walks closer and they all sees the slight narrowing, as if the seeker is frowning before the optics widens in some sort of recognition. A klik later Firstaid has the sole attention of the seeker and the lyrical sound of the seekers’ language flows from the black and purple seeker before – with Firstaid visibly cringing – the seeker takes a hold on the medic and they are gone in a flash of purple.

/I couldn’t find his creator but I found the other healer./ Skywarp says as he rematerialize inside the medical bay a few kliks later, steadying a momentarily shell-shocked Firstaid before he looks at where Thundercracker is standing beside one of the metal slabs, a still unconscious Starscream lying prone on it.

Hearing his mate, Thundercracker turns away from Starscream to face the black and purple seeker. Seeing the still dazed Firstaid in Skywarps claws he nods before he points to another metal slab out of Skywarps sight.

/His creator is here too./ The Winglord states with a frown.

Taking a few steps further into the center of the medbay, dragging Firstaid with him, Skywarp is able to see what Thundercracker is pointing at and seeing Starscreams creator unconscious the black and purple seeker frowns as well.

Slowly coming out of his dazed state Firstaid looks between the two seekers as they communicate verbally and non-verbally. Since he doesn’t have Ratchets knowledge with seekers and can’t deduce much from their lyrical language his attention is drawn to their frames and seeing the clear tensions, Starscreams unconscious state and then the interest in the still sedated Ratchet, Firstaid decides that it might be a good idea to bring Ratchet back online.

Freeing himself slowly from Skywarps claws, breathing a sigh of relief when the seeker allows him to get free, he slowly walks to a cabinet to withdraw a syringe with the neutralizer agent before administering into one of Ratchet’s energon lines. He tries to ignore the intense stares the seekers favor him with as he works and when all he can do is waiting for Ratchet to regain consciousness the stares become rather unpleasant to the medic. Even if the seekers haven’t hurt him, he can’t help feeling very much like a prey cornered by two predators and he is sure the seekers can feel his discomfort and his spark pulsing faster as fear slowly fills him.

But even if they do sense it, nothing happens and when Ratchet begins to move as the sedation releases its grip on the CMO the intense stares switches onto the wakening medic. A happy trill escapes the black and purple seeker when Ratchets optics onlines and it bounces over to Ratchets medical berth and enters the CMO’s sight just as Ratchet’s sight clears.

Blue optics becoming impossibly wide, Firstaid can’t stop the smile forming on his lips at the sight of his old mentors surprise at seeing the seeker there.

“…Firstaid?” Ratchet asks hoarse, his optics still trained on the seeker.

“I’m here Ratchet.” Firstaid says standing at the side opposite to the seeker. “As you see we have guests and I decided it would be a good idea to wake you. Starscream’s here and I don’t know what is wrong with him. I don’t understand the seekers as well as you do, so I’m going to let you deal with this if you are well enough?” Firstaid continues, showing a slight of his nervousness.

“I… Starscream?” Lifting his helm a bit the CMO tries to see past Skywarp, but the black and purple seeker blocks his view. All he can see is the outline of Thundercracker’s blue wings and he can guess that Starscream might be on the medical berth just beside his own. With a groan he forces his frame to sit up and when the black and purple seeker shifts a bit he has free view to Starscreams berth.

Scanning the tricolored seeker he instantly receives a warning about the seeker’s low energy levels and breathes a sigh of relief. If it is just the energy it is easily handled.

“Fetch me an energon cube, then while I reenergize please start up an energon transfusion for Starscream.” Ratchet says to the other medic. With a nod Firstaid leaves the spot beside the berth and gets to work.

Taking the offered energon cube from Firstaid, Ratchet begins to sip while studying the two seekers. Skywarp still occupies the spot beside the CMO while Thundercrackers whole attention has returned to Starscream. While he watches Thundercracker, Ratchet is taken by surprise when the blue seeker gently lowers his helm to Starscreams and pecks small kisses to the unconscious seekers lips. The gentle trills escaping the blue seeker’s vocalizer is soothing and the CMO can’t help smiling at the clear affection showed by the large dominant towards his little seeker. Then the moment is broken as Firstaid moves towards Starscream with the energon drop. With flaring wings Thundercracker visibly grows in size and a low growl escapes the blue seeker’s vocalizer. Unprepared for the hostility Firstaid stops completely in his movements towards Starscreams berth and his optics flickers to Ratchet’s, silently seeking guidance.

Narrowing his optics Ratchet studies the Winglord, seeing the flared wings, the wide and bright optics while he listens to the low threatening growl. As he studies the blue seeker everything points to a seeker prepared to kill, but he keenly notes two important things: one, Thundercracker isn’t baring his fangs, and two, the claws remain unmoving where they are placed on the berth.

A seeker preparing to kill will always show its fangs and flex its claws as it readies itself to shred and tear its prey apart.

“He isn’t going to kill you, but be careful as you move closer ‘Aid.” Ratchet advices with a small smile before he begins to sip at his cube again.

With a nod to the CMO, Firstaid returns his attention on the dangerous blue seeker less than a dozen feet away. Slowly stepping closer to the berth his spark pulses faster as Thundercrackers wings rises high on the seeker’s back and the lips begin to quiver as the growl deepens, but beyond that nothing happens.

/Relax Thunder./ Skywarp coos, sensing the growing tension in his blue mate as Firstaid walks as close as mere few feet from the Winglord. One wrong move from the grounder and the seeker is going to snap and act. /This is why we are here, remember./ the black and purple seeker tries to sooth as he leaves his spot beside Ratchet’s berth and instead leans himself against Thundercrackers back with his cockpit squealing against the blue plating.

With his helm resting against the back of Thundercracker’s neck, Skywarp affectionately allows his servos to travel the rigid blue frame, slowly coaxing Thundercracker to relax. Low purring sounds escapes his vocalizer as the tense wings slowly lowers and he is able to rest his helm on Thundercrackers left shoulder. With the wings lowered he is able to dip his claws into the highly sensitive ailerons and gently playing with the mobility of the sensitive wing part. The act efficiently distracts the dominant from what is going on before him, forcing him to offline his optics as intense pleasure shoots through his wings and floods his processor.

Sensing Thundercracker’s unawareness Skywarp takes his optics off of the dominant and watches as Ratchet slowly rises from the berth. Then he turns his attention onto the other medic and watches as Firstaid slowly works a needle into one of Starscreams energon lines. The black and purple seeker knows the instant the needle penetrates Starscream’s line. The scent of Starscream’s energon fills the air from the small puncture wound and Thundercracker onlines his optics instantly grunting soundly before he snarls and begins to struggle in the light hold Skywarp has on his wings when the scent registers in the dominants olfactory sensor. The dominant has become docile by Skywarps tender care and when the black and purple seeker increases his ministrations and once again floods the dominants processor with pleasure the fight slowly leaves him and Thundercracker sags dozily in the hold Skywarp have on him, the black and purple seeker’s claws gently fondling the ailerons’ metal flaps before dipping into the seams connecting the small wing to the wing.

With Thundercracker complacent once again, Skywarp watches as Ratchet begins to connect lines from the boxy shapes placed around the berth to Starscreams frame and one after one blipping sounds begin to sound. Curious he looks at the squares coming to life and cants his helm where he rests it against Thundercrackers shoulder when he sees the lines showing on them.

Ratchet studies the pair out of the corner of his optics as he connects the monitors to Starscream and watches the seeker’s vitals one after one become active on the monitor screens. The last he connects is the spark and seeing the frequency rate the monitor shows he soundly curses.

He has seen that kind of frequency before. The pulsing of the spark even matches the strange pattern he remembers – three fast deep pulses then a kliks pause and then two slow ones, then three fast again and a pause, this time just a bit longer before the spark reacts again with the two slow ones. He knows his seeker’s normal spark pulsing down to the last mili-klik and what he sees present in front of him is far from normal. The irregular frequency rate and pulsing – pattern as well as speed – is surely taxing on the seeker’s systems with the spark stealing the energy from every other process which need it in the seeker’s frame and that is where the danger to Starscreams life lie. While the spark suffer from the abundance of energy flooding it, the rest of the frame is starving, sending essential systems into dysfunction while the spark slowly destabilize due to the extreme flow of energy fed it.

“’Aid, increase the energon flow to its maximum!” he orders, trying to keep his vocalizer from yelling and startle the at the moment rather docile seekers. If he is right about Starscreams condition, then the seeker needs the increased flow of energy into his systems until the fatigued systems clearly showed by energy levels ranging around 45% has been replenished again. It is a dangerous balancing between feeding the seeker enough energy to keep the essential systems running and realigning and not overflow the spark with too much energy to destabilize it.

While Firstaid moves to comply, Ratchet fights with very old memories.

‘I’m not going to lose you Starscream!’ the CMO growls silently to the unconscious seeker ‘Not like I lost your carrier. You can’t be far into your carrying and I’m going to make sure both of you survive this!’ Ratchet adds with conviction.

Beginning a new and deeper scan of the seeker, especially focusing on the chestplates and spark it doesn’t take many kliks before the scan confirms the presence of a small spark nestling against Starscreams and Ratchets features hardens.

It’s barely one orn old.

A warning alert begins to blare and Ratchet’s optics instantly focuses on the monitor showing the spark frequency rate seeing it drop just like he remembered from his attempt to save Starscreams carrier. This time however he knows that there is an increased drain on the seeker and he instantly turns his attention onto the monitor showing Starscreams energy levels for a moment ignoring the dropping spark frequency. It isn’t the spark which is the issue as he had thought back then, but the energy flow. Just as he watches the levels they drop whole 3% and linger barely above 40% and he can’t stop the curses from escaping his vocalizer. He won’t let it happen! He won’t allow for Starscream to die on him like this!

“Keep an optic on those levels Firstaid. I need to prepare another transfusion, he is slowly slipping away from us and I won’t let it happen!” Ratchet growls as he with hurried strides moves away from the berth to prepare the transfusion he hope will be enough to keep Starscream from dropping further.

It takes them one and a half cycle to counter the energy drain and stabilize the spark’s frequency rate. With energy levels around 85% and the frequency rate stable the spark’s pulsing eases into its normal pattern and contribute to lowering the energy drain even further and slowly increases the energy level to remain stable around 95% with a slow continued flow of energon into just one Starscream’s lines. In the end they had needed whole four transfusions running at the same time to stabilize the seeker’s spark frequency rate and prevent the seeker from dropping into the extremely low energy levels he had been heading towards. When the percentages finally began to rise he had lingered around 30% and Ratchet had been sure he had lost the seeker, yet he didn’t give up. Starscream is strong, the seeker had proved that countless times and as long as the seeker kept fighting Ratchet would as well.

With a deep sigh of relief Ratchet leans back against one of the unoccupied berths feeling completely spent. A faint smile plays on his lips as he watches Thundercracker and Skywarp snuggle up close at both sides of Starscreams berth and making themselves comfortable on the floor. It takes them a while to arrange their wings with the berth hindering them in having their wings overlapping and finally the large expanses just folds down at their sides while the two seekers face each other. Content purrs from their vocalizers drown out the laborious sound of Starscreams now only recharging systems. Sedation keeps the tricolored seeker in the world of the unconscious until Ratchet deems it safe to bring him back online.

A shuffling sound behind him draws his attention and when he turns he gratefully takes the energon cube Firstaid offer him.

“Thank you ‘Aid. Good work there.” The CMO says with a smile in his voice, relief filling his whole spark.

“So, he is carrying then?” Firstaid slowly asks with curiosity clear in his voice as he walks around the berth and sits on it beside the CMO.

“Yes.” The CMO replies, the smile on his lips growing. Who would have known he would be a grand-creator with Vector Sigma destroyed in the war.

With the thought the smile slowly falters.

‘Even if the war is over we face new complications. Are we even enough to survive and rebuild?’ Ratchet muses.

“It must have been a busy orn for the seekers then.” Firstaid smiles and seeing Ratchets frown he elaborates “Well, Starscream revived from death somehow, the decepticons killed by Thundercracker and in this entire Thundercracker even has time to spark Star? That is much for just one orn.”

Ratchet just stares for several kliks, and Firstaid is afraid referring to Starscreams death and mysterious revival is going to make the CMO relapse, but then the thin line of the lips slowly twists into a smile and mirthful laughter fills the medbay momentarily startling the seekers. The lazy growl sounding from Thundercracker just have the CMO laughing even more.

“Busy indeed.” Ratchet smiles as the laughter slowly dies down to mere chuckles.

It’s rare for Ratchet to laugh so freely and hearing the happy sound makes a heavy burden lift from Firstaid’s spark. It seems treating Starscream has been mending for the CMO.

“Should we let them have some privacy?” he asks when Ratchet has become silent once again.

“It might be a good idea. Primus knows how stressing this has been for me, how mustn’t it have been for those two.” Ratchet answers, his optics keenly studying the faint tremors running through Thundercracker and Skywarps frames. It’s clear that the seekers once again fights against the recharge threatening to overtake them, and he knows all he can do to help them get the much needed recharge is to simply leave them alone and remove his own presence.

“Come.” He whispers as he leans away from the berth and carefully steps between the wings taking up the space on the floor between the two berths. He almost trips when the wing he thought he was free of jerks and only fast reflexes prevents him from flat-out put down his pede in the middle of it. A low growl escapes him and he glares down at the blue seeker. Meeting the seeker’s yellow optics Ratchet is sure he sees mirth in them as well as the minute curving of the seeker’s lips into a smile, then it is gone and the seeker grunts before it turns its attention back onto Skywarp. A swipe from the black and purple seeker confirms Ratchets suspicion, it had been deliberate. Thundercracker’s surprised yelp when Skywarp’s swiping servo connects with his cheek makes Ratchet snicker and with a wide smile he walks towards the energon dispenser before heading for the exit.

He pours four cubes and places them on the nearest berth. Pointing to the cubes and then to the two seekers he sees understanding in Skywarp optics. Then with a nod he turns and leaves the medbay, followed by Firstaid.

“What was that?” Firstaid asks when Ratchet locks the door to the medbay and secures that no one is going to disturb the seekers.

“A test is my guess or a chance to pick a fight? I don’t know. But it was just as underhanded as some of the Twins’ worst pranks.” The CMO growls.

Humor and the blue seeker simply didn’t add up. But there had been no mistaking the look in those yellow optics, Ratchet is sure of that.

Listening to the leaving grounders, Skywarp turns narrowing optics onto his mate when the autobots no longer can be heard. He swipes at Thundercracker again when all the blue seeker does is favor him with wide and innocent optics. This time he catches the servo before it connects with his face and with a devious smile he begins to kiss the claws, starting with each claw tip before he moves down the dangerous appendages to lick at the sensitive areas between the claws. The shudders his actions cause in Skywarp just makes his smile widen and his optics sparkle with a burning fire.

/Th-Thun-der./ Skywarp whispers brokenly as his claws are assaulted by sensations and when he tugs to free his servo Thundercracker just grips it harder.

/Payback for all the sweet torture my little Sky./ the blue seeker purrs as his glossa travels the length of one of the claws. The whine escaping Skywarp is the sweetest sound and he does it again on the next claw forcing more needy sounds from his mate. It doesn’t take long before Skywarp is completely undone and begs for Thundercracker to take him. Shuffling on the floor in desperation the black and purple seeker allows Thundercracker to pounce him and cries of pleasure soon fills the medbay as both seekers succumb to the need.

Their overload is strong and releasing and when the pleasure slowly subsides both seekers are crying shamelessly while hugging each other close.

::We almost lost him. Them! The newspark too.:: Thundercracker’s voice trembles in their bond showing his pain.

/He is okay. He is okay. He is okay. He-/ Skywarp repeats in hushed whispers as he snuggles into Thundercracker and hugs the larger blue frame closer in a painful grip with his claws digging into the dominants armor while his frame trembles with the released stress.

Crushing Skywarp against him in what must be a painful hug, the submissive’s helm resting against the crook of Thundercracker’s neck, both seekers shakes violently as the deep feelings finally runs rampart inside them. It’s taxing on their systems and the stressful release of emotions is draining. Soon they are both soundly in recharge, still clutching painfully to each other.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally it has come to an end. I hope you like this ending as much as i do. I can't say when "Origin", the sequel will be out, but keep your eyes open for it.

The orns following Ratchets treatment of Starscream is going to be busy for the two medics with the medbay basically under lockdown while Starscream recovers. Skywarp manages to convey enough understanding between himself and the CMO that Ratchet decides to begin in-depth examinations of the seekers one after the other, beginning with the black and purple seeker. When he is presented with the seekerling as Skywarp gently reaches into his cockpit, and letting the CMO see parts of the special design enabling the carrier to carry the little one safely wherever he goes, Ratchets spark simply melts at the sight and the fond memories of Starscreams first orns among them surfaces.

Then when Skywarp offers the seekerling to the medic Ratchet feels how his processor is one the verge of glitching. Here is a wild seeker willingly handing his most treasured possession to a grounder. The trust the black and purple seeker shows him is mind boggling and surreal.

However when he reaches towards the offering claws he is aware of the overprotective dominant keenly watching the interaction between them, and with great care he closes his servos gently beneath the seekerling and draws it into a close embrace with every sensor in his frame alert to any change in the two seekers, ready to hand the seekerling back if necessary.

When nothing happens for several kliks he relaxes and looks down at the little being held close to his spark. It looks so much like Starscream, its colors not yet developed. A single tear travels down his cheek and at a little chirr from the black and purple seeker he forces himself out of the old memories taking precedence in his mind just then. With slow deliberate steps he walks to one of the cabinets, taking a soft rag cloth and then turns to the nearest berth to begin the examination of the little one. When he places it in the soft plush cloth it protests a bit to be removed from the comforting warmth and presence of his spark, but soon the protests silences as the cloth absorbs the warmth coming from its lite frame and returns it, protecting it from the cold air in the medbay.

With a fond smile he turns to another cabinet and withdraws a scanner and begins the process of determine if the seekerling has come out of the ordeal without any lingering issues. He is now aware of the seekers superior self-repair and healing, but you can never be too careful around newsparks.

A few cycles later he hands the seekerling back to its carrier, an infusion of the gentlest cleansing solution running through its energon removing the last lingering traces of the impurities affecting its systems. It is in deep recharge, the procedure energy taxing and with a smile he watches Skywarp nudge a feeding line between the small lips. When the pure energon begins to run into its little mouth it begins to suck and swallow on reflex while still in recharge.

Retreating to the sink to begin cleaning the used tools he is taken by surprise when he feels a gentle tap on his shoulder. Turning around to see what the seekers want now, he is met with Skywarps yellow optics and a definite smile on the lips as the seeker crouches low behind him, wings almost encompassing him completely. A light purr and then Skywarp is nuzzling his helm against Ratchets forehelm completely surprising the medic and Ratchet is left stunned for moments after the seeker has retreated.

"You are welcome…I guess." He utters, his processor stalling for several moments as he watches Skywarp return to the spot beside Starscreams berth, Thundercracker gently embracing the black and purple seeker and resting his helm on the carrier's left shoulder to glance down at his creation.

Ratchet feels himself gifted as he glances at the interaction between the two seekers. Before Starscream was entrusted in their care so many vorns ago no one thought the seekers sentient, intelligent and capable of having feelings, or care for one another. No one had been allowed close enough to know the truth behind the aggressive predators. All they had seen was animals only capable of bestiality and destruction, not this passionate, encompassing feeling clearly showing in how Thundercracker's claws gently nuzzles the black plating, or when he gently with a wing flicker asks for permission and then when granted permission lifts the vulnerable seekerling with the very claws that personally has seen to the destruction of the decepticon forces on Earth.

There is so much more to the seekers' habits than any of them knew, but now their optics has been opened to the wonder and hopefully with time a deeper understanding between their two species.

Returning to the sink and his tools he is no longer on alert when turning his back to the supposed predators, instead calm and trust suffuses his spark and a smile forms on his lips. He has been smiling a lot lately, but can't bring himself to care that he might ruin his reputation of being the grumpy and sparkless CMO of the Autobot army. After all, none of his fellows is allowed into the medbay as long as Starscream is restituting, Thundercracker is making sure of that. The Winglord is protecting his vulnerable mate viciously and anyone not being Ratchet or Firstaid is greeted by the powerful sight of the blue seeker puffing himself up in his most threatening display.

* * *

Three orns later Ratchet is disturbed in his examination of a purple and blue seeker when the base wide com. line erupts with orders. Looking up from the sample of energon he has just taken from the seeker he frowns and looks to the side to see Thundercracker poised to react to the possible threat communicated through the com. line. Catching the Winglords yellow optics Ratchet conveys calm before he puts down his tools and goes to the com system at the entrance to the medbay to get further information.

"Prime, what is going on?" his voice booms across the spaceship, aware of the edginess in the three seekers with him. Skywarp is sitting beside Starscreams berth, nuzzling the still unresponsive seeker calmly, but his wings betrays the uproar of feelings inside him and his yellow optics is wide, alert and watching every one of Ratchets movements.

Smiling reassuringly while he waits for the answer he is pleased to see that the wings movement calms down a bit.

"Energy spike. At the decepticon base." Optimus answers him gravely on his private com line.

"But that means…" Ratchet protests.

"That someone has activated the spacebridge, yes." Optimus finishes, his tone deeply serious.

"But who?" The medic wonders. To their knowledge none of the 'Cons escaped Thundercracker's wrath.

"We don't know yet. I'm negotiating with the humans to see if any of their satellites by chance is able to provide any visual from the timeframe of the occurrence." Optimus explains. "How are the seekers?" he then asks curiously.

"They are fine with their strong self-repair and all. But I am detecting a decrease in efficiency. Some hasn't been able to heal the basest of damages and generally they all show varying degrees of malnutrition and degeneration when it comes to their outer armor, weakening them greatly. They are missing key elements from their regular prey to remain healthy, like various types of metals that they are unable to obtain from any source here on Earth. They will need to return to Cybertron soon or the malnutrition is going to become life-threatening to some of them." Ratchet explains seriously, ignoring the painful pang in his spark at the thought of having to say goodbye to Starscream and maybe never see him again.

"And Starscream?" Optimus asks gently.

"I will be able to release him from stasis within the next four orns if everything remains stable." Ratchet replies. "At the least I need to be done with the examinations before I rouse him. He needs silence and calm around him when he wakes. I'm looking forward to talk to him again. It has been so long." A deep sigh of longing and he rubs his chestplates where a faint residual pain still lingers and it will take some time before his spark recovers from the breaking of the bond. Some of that pain is also due to the fact that the bond between them is forever lost and he still feels like he has lost a great part of himself ever since the breaking of it. At least if he still had the bond he wouldn't be so anxious to let Starscream go and return to his roots among his own kin.

"It will be okay Ratchet. He will never forget you. You are his creator no matter his true origin." Optimus sooths.

"I know Optimus. I know." The medic sighs before he closes the com. and returns to the examination, the calmness he exudes enough to relax the three seekers and enable him to resume his work.

But the calmness is soon disturbed again, because a human day later bad news is revealed to the whole Ark crew.

Soundwave is still very much alive and it was he who activated the spacebridge. With Megatrons SIC still alive the war still carries on. None of them is delusional enough to think the telepath incapable of uniting the decepticons and continue waging war on them.

The new knowledge weight heavy on the CMO and it feels like he has become several thousand vorns older in just a few breems. They are all so tired of war and no one knows how their remaining forces on Cybertron fares or how many Autobots have survived in comparison to Decepticons. To have the war reignite suddenly after a faint hope of peace… Ratchet can see the same battle-fatigue in the others as he himself feels in his spark.

"We need Starscream for this." He murmurs, more to himself. The seekers need to know and the only one able to convey everything without misunderstandings is the tricolored seeker. Ratchet might have become skilled in communicating with the seekers, but he isn't a seeker.

Tired he leaves the command center to return to his medbay, a datapad in servo to scroll through the work of the previous few orns. When will he be able to bring Starscream online safely?

"Optimus." He contacts their leader on the com. line after having calculated the remaining examinations.

"Yes Ratchet?" the Prime answers almost instantly.

"I can bring Starscream online four orns from now. He will require at least an orn to recover from his time in stasis, but after that he should be healthy enough for high command to brief him on the situation. We have a unique chance to gain allies in the seekers, but this topic is so delicate that I won't tell zilch to them without him present there. I'm not a seeker, and if anything in this goes wrong we might as well sign our own deaths warrants." Ratchet sighs, feeling utterly fatigued.

"I understand. And you are right. Let me know when you have roused him from stasis. I will inform the others." the Prime answers, an undertone of hope clear in his vocalizer.

* * *

Unfortunately their hope in gaining the seekers as allies is crushed firmly by Thundercracker's adamant /NO!/ when Starscream explains the proposal to the Winglord and the following roar leaves none of the Autobots without any doubt about the response.

In the Winglords optics, the seekers have no reason to fight a war not concerning them anymore. The threat to his people is gone and he couldn't care less if the grounders eradicate each other in pointless war. Starscream protests wildly, deeply conflicted, but all it does is to make Thundercracker move the time for their departure closer and it is a dejected submissive who bows to his will. There is no point fighting the Winglord on his decision, all it gets him is an irate dominant and punishment for disobeying, Starscream knows that deeply in his spark, but still a large part of him screams for him to fight Thundercracker on the decision.

It takes Optimus to reassure him that they are all going to be okay for him to begin to relax. And he needs to think about how his stress affects his unborn newspark.

A few orns later they are all standing in front of the ruined decepticon base, Starscream properly submissive with drooping wings standing beside Thundercracker and looking sadly towards where Ratchet stands among the Autobot ranks.

This is the last time he is going to see his creator.

Then the spacebridge flares to life in intricate purple colors intermingling in the central force field and the first trine is stepping through to secure the other side. With them are Wheeljack to maintain the bridge from the other side while the transport of the seekers commence.

The trine to join the inventor is Crossfire's and Starscream feels relief at that fact. Crossfire he can trust to not hurt the grounder.

Sensing his inner turmoil, Skywarp physically nudges closer to him, their wings touching and a flash of gratefulness travels through the bond. The black and purple seeker doesn't completely understand how hard this is for the other submissive, but through the feelings of loss and conflict he gets an idea of how hard this is going to be for Starscream.

/It is going to be okay. You will forget him soon./ Skywarp tries to sooth, the underlying explanation that Starscream will be enough occupied when they return to their people ringing clear through their bond. The Winglord trine is complete; every clan leader will want to congratulate Thundercracker and see the new seeker taking up his left flank and test him to his outmost when they realize Starscreams origin.

When communication gets through from Wheeljack that everything is clear on the Cybertron side Starscream tells Thundercracker the go ahead and one after the other their seekers walk through the spacebridge.

Unseen Primus/The Sky Above watches the interaction from the ethereal plane, pleased with the turn of events leading to this moment. Finally everything is coming together and finally the three seekers' fates are moving down the path destined for them. Finally what he envisioned before he sparked them will come true. As he told Skywarp so very many vorns ago Thundercracker is going to be a Winglord of change, and now united in a triade with Starscream nothing can stop that change from happening.

Not even war or separation.

When Thundercracker and his two mates are the only seekers left on the little planet circling the young sun, the god laughs heartily when Starscream breaks Thundercrackers grip on him and runs towards his creator. The crushing hug between grounder and seeker is strengthening his belief that nothing is going to be as it was before and he is deeply pleased with the choice of creators he made for Starscream when fate didn't go as planned and Starscream couldn't grow up among his own. Ratchet and Hound has filled the role as creators to a seeker perfectly with the little to no knowledge they possessed at the time.

Clearly displeased, but held back by Skywarp, Thundercracker allows creator and creation a few breems to say properly goodbye before he moves to separate the desperately clinging seeker from the grounder. Not once does Thundercracker raise any defense or attack against the distraught seeker when he drags Starscream with him away from the group of grounders, not even when Starscream claws at him, gouging his plating and scratching the paint, screeches and generally makes a great fuss of the whole ordeal.

When the last three seekers is gone through the spacebridge a deafening silence fills the area and even from a distance the god hears the faint murmur from Ratchet as the medic – optics brimming with tears – stares brokenly at the fluctuating purple portal, the grounders waiting for their comrade to return from the other side.

"Goodbye my little Star. And…thank you for everything."

End.


End file.
